Liberty Reborn

Everyone that reads me on a regular basis knows that I support replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax. I have even expressed more than lukewarm support for The FairTax which is, as a whole, a very good proposal but not without its flaws. The biggest flaw it has is that it is still a progressive tax that creates two levels of tax payers in America – those that pay taxes and those that do not pay taxes. This is all thanks to the prebate provision of the current bill.

However, look at what I just said. I said I support REPLACING the federal income tax with a national sales tax. I have never, ever, ever said that I supported having both concurrently. Polls have even shown time and again that many Americans favor this same thing; an all out replacement of one with another.

But, as is always the case, I get emails from people that want to claim that not only am I out of the mainstream on this but also delusional that anything will ever happen with the tax code. With Rasmussen releasing a new poll the other day on the issue I got more than a few emails from giddy supporters of a Flat (income) Tax and the status quo of the progressive income tax misrepresenting what the survey found to try and paint me as such.

Part of this is the fault of Rasmussen who used a terrible title for the article accompanying the poll on their site. The title was, “24% Favor National Sales Tax, 65% Oppose.” Those were the statistics that these giddy emailers cited lock, stock and barrel.

But had they actually read the article they would have found that I am actually in very good company with my desire to see the federal progressive income tax replaced by a national sales tax. Those 24% to 65% numbers are when the option was presented to have both together

The New York Times reports that “economists across the political spectrum say a consumption tax may be inevitable once the economy fully recovers.”

One of the reasons cited by the newspaper is the lack of political will to cut spending, but implementing a national sales tax may be even more of a political challenge. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 24% of voters favor a national sales tax. Sixty-five percent (65%) are opposed.

However when asked about replacing our current system with a national sales tax the numbers are actually 44% in favor and just 36% opposed. Ooops! I am in the plurality once again with my opinions and beliefs. Sorry guys and gals:

A plurality, however, like the idea of replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax. Forty-four percent (44%) favor the idea, and 36% are opposed.

Maybe next time you should actually read the articles you cite as proof of your claims before emailing me and looking like a fool.

As for claims that nothing will ever happen on this front? Well look at it this way. Less people want socialized medicine than want a national sales tax to replace the federal income tax and look how eager the liberals in Congress are to give that to us! Heck the calls for socialized medicine are in a clear minority by the polls, not to mention it is unconstitutional too! At least this is constitutional AND a solid plurality actually supports it!

But it won’t happen with liberals in control because dismantling the IRS and the entangling bureaucracy of the federal tax code would mean less power for them over the citizenry.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 6:58 am and is filed under J.J. Jackson's Daily Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.