Fair Tax: At the Basest Level

In my last few blogs, I’ve been looking at the history and forms of the American taxation system. I also compared the mainstream tax systems in the world – Flat Tax and Progressive Tax. In this blog, I plan on exploring one of the most discussed taxation systems right now – the Fair Tax system.

The Fair Tax system not only is one of the most talked about alterations of economic policies, but it’s also one of the most controversial. It has rabid supporters but equally as rabid opponents. At its basest, the Fair Tax system involves completely ridding the nation of the national income tax – and replace it with a hefty consumption tax.

Specifically, the legislation that proposes the Fair Tax would levy a twenty three percent added tax cost onto any purchases.

What effect does this have on American society? Proponents believe that the wealthy would incur most of the tax burden – they have the most wealth with which to make purchases, but the law falls short on demanding that those with higher incomes pay a greater portion of taxation. Instead, people choose to pay taxes simply by making purchases. It might also decrease tax evasion and would make charge taxes onto illegal immigrants in the country. Due to the tax on consumption, proponents argue, the economy would see the benefits of increased savings and investments. It would also ease the tax burden from businesses and encourage international corporations to do business in America instead of outsourcing to nations with more lax regulations.

Opponents have a different view, however. They believe that the decreased tax burden on the rich would increase it for the middle class, and that Fair Tax would additionally cause a greater budget deficit on a national level. Being me, however, I would argue that decreased tax incomes do not create budget deficits – Congresses with less-than-fiscal-conservative policies do.

The Fair Tax system is arguably far more complicated than what I have made it out to be here. However, I believe it makes more sense than the current Progressive Tax system in this country – more on that in the next blog.

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Chris Buchheit

Chris Buchheit was born under the hot Floridian sun during some year in the 1980s. There he studied school matters until moving to North Carolina in 1999. Possibly due to the fact that his mom had enough of him being inside all the time, he quickly got involved in community affairs via the Boy Scouts of America, where he learned the values of citizenship, morality, duty to God and country, and that the biggest kids get to boss around the smaller ones. Chris attained the rank of Eagle Scout in 2004, and still values the rank as one of his proudest achievements. Beginning in 2006, Chris began attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he quickly learned the value of basketball and poplar trees. Since attending UNC, Chris has been double majoring in Asian Studies, with a concentration in Chinese, and Political Science. When he isn’t slaving over his honors thesis, looking up a bunch of Chinese Characters, volunteering, or mindlessly browsing the same websites over and over, Chris enjoys writing short stories and novels. Much to his roommates’ annoyance, he also spends his free time learning to play the guitar. Above all else, though, Chris values God, his family, and his friends. For the future, Chris plans to apply to Georgetown to further his studies in Political Science, hopefully with a concentration on China. Pending acceptance into Georgetown, Chris would like to study while gaining professional experience in a government job in Washington DC.

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