The FairTax pre-bate is not socialism, it is your money

Independence Caucus

National Sales Tax Discussion 

 

The FairTax pre-bate is not socialism

 It is your money

Article by Frankie Ray

 

Who understands that the Constitution does not authorized congress to set up a social security system?  This is "Socialism".

Where did this comment come from, and how would it relate to the debate about the Fair Tax? No one here at I-caucus advocates in favor of Social Security and I think I speak for virtually everyone here that we clearly know that social security is unconstitutional.

Several months ago, on this very forum, Independent Caucus, we answered questions or to statements about the pre-bate and about tax rates:

#1) At I-caucus we do not advocate "revenue neutral" as part of our stand on the National Sales Tax(NST) as a tax solution. The reason we do not advocate "revenue neutral" is because to do so would legitimize the current level of taxation in this country as acceptable or as the correct level of taxation; and we do not accept the current level of taxation as correct, acceptable, or legitimate.

Accordingly, there is a mechanism built into the Fixed Pie Budget that automatically adjusts the NST tax rate over time, no matter what rate the NST is established at when adopted.

Accordingly, there are no valid arguments against our position in favor of the NST which are based on a specified tax rate of any number, and any links you are leaving that argue against an NST based on a specific tax rate are, at best, irrelevant.


#2) Arguing that a "prebate" is socialism is, at best, incorrect. Here again is why calling it socialism is incorrect:

a) Under today's tax laws, if I have $1,000 per month withheld out of my paycheck, at the end of the year the government would have taken $12,000 of MY money. Correct?

b) If I then prepare my 1040 tax form, and it is decided that my tax debt for the year was only $10,400….the government would send me a refund check of $1,600. Correct?

c) Is that $1,600 refund check that the government sent me welfare? Is it socialism? No, it is not welfare and it is not socialism because the government is merely giving me back MY money. Correct?


d) If the government could decide at the beginning of any given year, that it KNEW it would be withholding $1,600 more of my money than it required of me, and sent me a check for $1,600 of my money in ADVANCE instead of at the end of the year...would that be welfare of socialism? No, it would not, because whether or not the government gives me back MY money in advance or after the fact, it is still MY money either way. Correct?

e) OK, so under the proposed NST with a pre-bate feature, when the government sends a pre-bate check it is merely refunding to me MY money in advance, before I spend MY money paying my consumption taxes during that month.

f) The government giving me back MY money is never socialism or welfare.

g) Therefore, anyone who argues that the Pre-bate built into the NST is socialism or welfare either is uneducated or deliberately misleading.