Will conservatives criticize Chambliss’ fair tax proposal?
Will conservatives criticize Chambliss’ fair tax proposal?
Last week, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) reiterated his support for the fair tax, which he claimed lets consumers determine their tax rate based on their consumption levels. “The fair tax is what is says it is — it’s fair,” Chambliss said. But as Matt Yglesias notes, when former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee proposed a fair tax during the GOP primary, conservatives lashed out:
– David Frum: “Economists and tax experts virtually unanimously agree that the plan is beyond unworkable — that it is downright absurd.”
– Ross Douthat: “Huckabee’s Fair Tax zeal and Paul’s anti-Fed enthusiasm are genuinely foolish.”
– Rich Lowry: No, the former Arkansas governor has the distinction of advocating the most radical — and politically unsalable and substantively daft — proposal of any major presidential candidate of either party. … [T]he FairTax is a bedtime story for IRS-hating conservatives.
– John Podhoretz: The Fair tax is a “wild notion.”
“I look forward to the aforementioned conservative thought-leaders weighing in on Chambliss’ endorsement of fantasyland policymaking,” Yglesias writes.
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Hmmm…this is the thread that troll VA Voter has been waiting for. Here, trollie, trollie, trollie…
October 20th, 2008 at 3:50 pmWait as long as you like, you will only hear crickets chirping.
October 20th, 2008 at 3:54 pmmisshusseinmolly,
Of course, all you’d have to do is copy-and-paste from months ago. You explained to ‘VA Voter’ the point of exhaustion. I don’t even remember if the troll was on-topic.
October 20th, 2008 at 4:02 pmHopefully, his opponent in the Senate race will pick up on this and defeat his re-election bid.
October 20th, 2008 at 4:29 pmLast week, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) reiterated his support for the fair tax, which he claimed lets consumers determine their tax rate based on their consumption levels.
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Hey, I’ve always wanted to determine my own tax rate. And now Chambliss says I can? Just by altering my “consumption level”? Wow — who knew it would be so easy?
Let’s see — I think I will choose a low tax rate. This means I must consume less. I could stand to shed a few pounds, so I think I will cut back on food. I work for an engineering firm, and they really don’t demand I dress fancy, so I can cut back on clothes (not a slam against engineers — it’s just that the ones I work with are more concerned with functionality than aesthetics). I could get away with traveling less. And I guess I really don’t need to have the newest and latest gadget all the time.
And sure enough, if I spend less, I find I pay less in taxes.
But what happens to our economy when everybody decides they want to “determine” a lower tax rate for themselves? My guess is that if everybody quits spending, the economy will plummet. Not only that, but tax revenue will dry up as well.
So what’s your next bright idea, Saxby?
October 20th, 2008 at 4:32 pmSen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) says the fair tax is what is says it is “it’s fair.”
You see, if it were not a fair tax, he couldn’t call it the fair tax.
He’d have to call it something Orwellian…
October 20th, 2008 at 5:01 pmOdd — I could swear that there were a good many more comments on this string not very long ago. Now all I see are 6.
October 20th, 2008 at 5:13 pmIn fact, there’s no postings between 4:02 and 4:29 pm (27 min.) and 4:32 and 5:01 pm (27 min.)
October 20th, 2008 at 5:17 pmIf incumbents’ re-election bids were determined on their names alone, Saxby would be in the Senate until death.
That way if there was a candidate who immigrated here from the Congo and their name was pronounced by a bunch of click syllables, we’d have to amend the Constitution to make them President.
It would be the easiest way to prevent any George’s or Bush’s from coming back to the White House.
October 20th, 2008 at 5:31 pmWill Conservatives criticize……?
Is that a rhetorical or a trick question ?
Seriously, sounds a lot like the value added taxes that a lot of countries use. I didn’t like it a lot when I was in Canada, but it seems to be one system.
Of course, those who spend a larger percentage of their income, pay a disproportionately larger portion of their salary. – So it does have a lot of issues with economic justice / regressive tax.
October 20th, 2008 at 5:52 pmThis “Fair Tax” nonsense is Neal Boortz’s baby! Boortz “a high school graduate only” has been pushing this BS for the better part of this decade! Every few months Boortz brings up his tar baby, whining and bellowing about how everyone wins, if only they would listen to his inane drivel!
October 20th, 2008 at 6:20 pmSaxby is an arrogant ass!
October 20th, 2008 at 10:43 pmI don’t think it should be called a “fair” tax proposal. However, I can think of at least one four letter word starting with an “f” that would fit.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:41 pmIt should be noted that demagaggin’ Rich Lowry did an “about face” on Huckabee and softened his irrational “anti-Huck” pondering at the end that McCain might do well with him as Veep. In any case, there is so much generalization by the foes of THE solution to a complex, wasteful, lobbyist-lovin’, politician-tax-favoring tax code, that I thought I’d kindly point all of you (who cannot see the forest for the trees) to some pretty illuminating research. And, if THAT still ain’t enuff to convince ya, here’s something a little more sobering.
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 amIt looks like Saxby’s internet team might’ve missed a few URLs :)
Take a look at saxby-chambliss.com/.
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 am