(09-29-2020, 06:12 PM)jagibelieve Wrote:

(09-29-2020, 05:40 PM)TheO-LineMatters Wrote: How is a flat tax unfair? I don't get it. Everyone is paying the same percentage of their income, so there should be no problem. I just don't get the argument at all. It's a level playing field. 

Thanks for the info about the United Way. I'll check that out next year. I wasn't aware they offered such services.

A flat tax is based on income.  The Fair Tax is based on consumption.  The difference is with a "flat tax" you are basically penalizing someone for making a good salary even if they choose to save their money rather than spend it.  It also only applies to people actually earning an income.

The Fair Tax on the other hand taxes people on what they spend, not what they earn.  It also applies to those not earning income.  Think the "underground economy" such as illegal aliens working for cash, prostitutes, drug dealers, etc.  Any time anyone buys something new they are taxed.  The rate would be the same for ALL people, not just those that actually earn an income.  Go buy a new car?  You get taxed X% whether it's a $20,000.00 car or a $100,000.00 car.

That's a very brief explanation of it and the basic idea of it.

You will never mature as a citizen as long as you keep calling taxes penalties.
A penalty is something the government charges you with for your specific situation because you specifically did something wrong, like when I made a mistake on my taxes.
But when everyone who earns a certain amount of money or spends a certain amount of money has to pay the same thing, that's not a penalty anymore. That's just a tax.
Anyhow, you're right that taxing sales makes the base broader and ropes in people who don't pay federal taxes today.
But there's another group of people, that does file federal taxes, but has a very low wage. They might be paying less than 10% of their income in federal taxes now. It would be nice to tell them they can pay zero income tax, but if you turn around and make them pay a 25% or 30% federal sales tax, obviously that's not a good deal for them.

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(09-29-2020, 06:36 PM)StroudCrowd1 Wrote:

(09-29-2020, 06:30 PM)mikesez Wrote: I made a mistake on my taxes once, maybe 10 years ago. about 6 months later, the treasury department sent me a letter saying I owed a couple hundred bucks more than I had paid. The letter had a bunch of big scary words in it, and it took me a couple of read-throughs to understand what the problem was, but I signed the forms and sent the check, and never heard about it again. I think there was a penalty, but it was pretty small, maybe $20 if memory serves.
It's good that you don't want to make a mistake, but you shouldn't be afraid to make one.

I think you got scammed.

The check said pay to the order of United States Treasury. 
I can't imagine a bank would cash such a check without proper identification. Plus the letter had really specific information about what numbers were on what line of my 1040.
If that was all from a fraudster, I tell you it was the ballsiest fraudster I ever heard of.

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