Something to Entertain
I recently wrote this paper for my English 102 class. It’s supposed to be a satyrical guest column with the readers of the State Press (ASU’s newspaper) as the audience.
FairTax Act(tually?)
On days when I’m not thinking about alliteration, I often ponder preposterous paradigms. When those days come, probably in the late afternoon when a Monster Energy Beverage assumes optimal control over my brain, I find myself learning a great deal of information and look towards an optimistic future in my First Year Composition course.
My most recent ponder has been on taxation and reform proposals. Like many ASU students, I don’t make enough money (a taxable income) to know that my instate tuition is partly covered by taxes. But what else didn’t I know? I didn’t know that the FairTax Act is (…as I look at synonyms for “narrow” before typing the next phrase to sound more smart…) limited and unwise.
The “Submission of Americans for Fair Taxation on the FairTax Comprehensive Tax Reform Proposal to The Presidents Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform” does have a huge name, but the AFFT (Americans For Fair Taxation) redeemed themselves when naming their Act. They masterfully combined 2 words, ‘Fair’ and ‘Tax’, into one word, FairTax, but continued to capitalize each individual word to lessen confusion. Unfortunately, the squiggly red line under FairTax doesn’t know that it’s actually a word, balancing out my lost confusion.
Apart from the proposal’s perplexing presentation, there is a proffer that may waste (proportionally) as much space as it’s pretense. AFFT Chairman, Leo Linbeck Jr. states, “The FairTax Act intends to do away with income taxes and other taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue Code, and enacting a single-rate tax on new goods and services.” The AFFT basically wants to create a national sales tax, eliminating income taxes. Like the Communist Manifesto, this submission only looks good on paper. At least Karl came up with a shorter name.
American’s for the FairTax act focus on the pie slice, ‘when their money is taken from them’ rather than the whole pie, ‘their money is taken from them,’ and have come up with a fine proposal according to those tiny spectacles they see the world through. Fortunately, most economists wear soft contact lenses and can see the whole pie for what it is. This would explain why both liberal and conservative economists believe that the real tax rate would end up even higher. Sorry to say, it is not the EFFT, and if it were, it would probably be the EFRT (Economists For Rational Taxation).
Let me show you another slice you can “chew on.” I can by all of my goods offshore. Even if the US government decided to tax the money before it was dropped into an account, I can open an offshore bank account and make all of my purchases through it. Unless the FairTax Act decides to limit many of my financial freedoms (which is opposite of what they’re getting at), you’ve gone roundabout to a reasonable form of taxation.
A suggestion for the AAFT: Acuvue 2 contacts are cheap (a little extra for colors). And, if you like what you see, possibly upgrade to the Night & Day brand.
Loading …May 05 2008 04:19 pm | Thoughts
