Fri 12 Aug 2005
So Neal Boortz and John Linder’s book will debut as the #1 non-fiction book on the New York Times best seller list. That’s pretty impressive and a testament to the hard work done by Linder, Boortz and others.
However, there is a danger from all this publicity. K-Street hates this bill because they would lose their ability manipulate the tax code for their clients. Democratic operatives don’t like the bill because they lose their ability to use “soak the rich” rhetoric.
But the tremendous outpouring of popular support for the FairTax means that Congress won’t be able to sweep this under the rug in committee. So they will have to defeat this bill via other means.
Expect to see Congress-Critters come out in support of the concept but not the bill. K-Street will develop their own FairTax, one that lobbyists and their Congressional lapdogs can tweak for the benefit of their clients. Class Warfare leftists will demand that “luxury items” get taxed at a higher rate than “necessities”. Expect to see corporate taxes added back into their bill. The prebate, which the Linder FairTax says every American gets, will become income based - only those who make below a certain amount will get the prebate.
The status-quo interests will soon realize they can’t stop the FairTax - so instead they will subvert it, and I think they will win.

August 12th, 2005 at 10:23 am
I have mixed feelings about the Fair Tax. While it looks much simpler than the income tax on paper, the enforcement problems are quite serious. The income tax worked with a minimum of actual visits by IRS agents because people reported on each other. My expense is your income. With a sales tax this is not the case. Expect a whole lot more undercover police activity and warrant-free searches if we go to a high sales tax.
The other problem is that the Democrats won’t buy it. It is insufficiently progressive. While the poor get a tax cut, the very rich also get a big tax cut. The middle and upper middle classes pick up the bill. The Democrats will successfully demonize it.
I proposed so corrections to these problems at:
http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/001053.html