More Morning Joke...Huckabee pimps "Fair" Tax (National Sales Tax), says we need to tax consumption [View all]

[Miles Archer]

Context:

http://www.examiner.net/article/20110305/News/303059898

‘Fair tax’ favors rich and is unfair to the rest

By Niel Johnson
Posted Mar. 5, 2011 @ 12:01 am
Updated Mar 5, 2011 at 4:07 AM

First of all the income tax, from the time a century ago when it was initiated, has been graduated; that is, different rates have been imposed based on the principle of ability to pay. Obviously, high income earners have a greater ability to pay a higher rate on income that is beyond what is imposed on lower income earners. What we may forget is that a wealthy person pays no more than a lower income person for the same amount of income. The higher rates apply only to higher brackets of income.

A so-called fair tax is actually a flat tax that would require a high sales tax, and since lower income earners have to spend most of what they make on necessities, they end up paying a higher percentage of tax on their income than the wealthy would pay. This would reduce the purchasing power of the average American.