very nice to just have one flat income tax - except for the rich folks who make a majority of their money thru capital gains on their investments would pay 0% tax - how upset would people be if Romney had just indicated that - not even a 15% effective tax rate - that he paid maybe a 1% effective tax rate (you know, the 12.5% on the piddly 350k he made speaking). And also - you can't change the definition of the Fair Tax (different tax rates on different goods) in order to make your argument.
@MrConservative608 That is what the fair tax is - he is changing the definition of the fair tax in order to make his argument. Bush commission did the same thing in their analysis - they look at it and say 'well, you'd have to have exceptions to tax, and have different rates on different goods, and therefore it doesn't work'. That's like arguing that his flat 12.5% tax won't work because when people take the mortgage deduction, that people with more expensive houses won't pay taxes.
The Fair Tax does not apply to used goods and you get a prebate for food, clothing etc.... Also, you can legally evade it by changing your behavior. There is no escape from the income tax.
Glen doesn't seem to understand the FairTax eliminates the IRS, The Flat tax does not. Our current system started as a flat tax. Look where it has gotten us. He also does not seem to understand that every one pays the same with no deductions no lobbyists no special favors with the FairTax. You can't say the same for the Flat tax. Glen needs to discuss this with some one who understands the FairTax.
How about we don't tax private individuals any more at all and just concentrate on taxation of actual business entities? Why should private individuals be taxed at all, when every dollar that they earn will be (theoretically speaking) spent SOMEWHERE where it will become income?
Glen, you normally get it right when you do your research, but I think you forgot to research this time. Under the fair tax there are ZERO exceptions or exemptions. All new retail goods are taxed at the same rate across the board. The end. The prebate guarantees that the poor pay zero taxes, and the middle class pay low taxes.
Part of the Fair Tax plan is to repeal that part of the 16th amendment.
Fair tax would ensure anyone, born citizen, immigrant, illegal immigrant, tourist, etc, would pay a tax inside the country. Would this create a black market? I don't know, how many people like buying stuff illegally? Not many. You'll be making more money, due to the lack of income tax. Plus, get rid of the IRS, that's a government spending cut.
Glenn, You are forgetting about the intrusion of the IRS into our privacy!!! Come on man, get with the program. Why advocate for disclosing our financial lives to the government? Even you dont disclose that information to your children or parents or friends!!! Why trust the government with that information. It really is none of their business!!!!!!!!
How can so many people have their facts so wrong. Fair tax system is the best way for us to take back control of our tax system. The flat tax sounds good but thats all it is. The flat tax was used after the civil war and look where that got us. And for the comments about the "black market"....try educating yourself before you speak. It is referring to the money outside of the tax system from illegal activity. There is too much misinformation to correct ...try reading fairtax by neil boertz
From BHI/fairtaxorg:"Households in the lowest income band, with an (AGI) of less than $10,000 annually, would benefit because they would receive the prebate that would more than offset any higher cost of purchasing goods.Households in the top income category, with more than $150,000 in annual income, would also gain as they do not have to pay their highest marginal tax rates. Mid-income category households would lose because the Fair Tax would impose a relatively higher tax rate on them."
What's so fair about the fair tax? The top 1% of populace of the American economy own 40% of the wealth and pay about 40% of the taxes also. In the fair tax way everyone would pay 20% or thereabouts. Who has a more vested interest in the roads traveled everyday? The worker going to work at the factory or the factory owner? Who has a more vested interest in govmt sponsored goods and services. This is just more brown nosing for rich clients.
@macduggles The riches 1% do not pay anywhere near 40% of there earning in taxes, do to all the massive loopholes in the current system. Warren Buffet Pays 17.7% Tax Rate. The rich will still pay a lot more in taxes as the buy more, but most impotently, the fair tax includes a pre-bate that subsidizes the poor and middle case to they end up paying a lower rate. Without this "prebate" it would be a regressiveness tax system, but with it, it is pretty progressive in it's tax rates.
If the goods are legal then the term you are looking for is gray market. To you though I say so what. Government does not have a right to what you earn. Taxation is theft on a grand scale and at least under a fair tax system people could opt out without going to prison.
I do guarantee this though to all the fair tax believers out there. If one day it does pass, or something along those lines, then prepare to see massive crackdowns on things like yard sales and flea markets.
@egingemu A reasonable questions, but would a 20% sales taxes be unprecedented in the world? No, current standard rate of VAT in Denmark is 25%, VAT is a little different then sales tax, but it is close enough. So, does Denmark have huge black markets, not really. The UK and many other EU national have these high level consumption tax.
@egingemu First, you must understand the current corporate tax is 35%... Businesses don't eat that cost, they pass it down to us. Between 20 and 30% of a $10 item has taxes embedded in the costs. The Fair Tax eliminates the corporate tax, thus eliminating the need to embed taxes... immediately dropping prices of all goods considerably! Then add the National Sales tax and goods only increase slightly. State Sales Taxes exist and black markets aren't quite prominent. So no black market.
@egingemu Everyone gets a pre-bate check at the beginning of each month for the amount of taxes one would pay on goods up to the proverty level. So poor people pay no taxes... it discourages people from buying hi-end unnecessary things like high end cars, designer purses, etc. And forces manufacturers to create more efficient,cost effective products... and in the process, eliminating all payroll taxes... making each paycheck bigger.
I don't know about you, but I really don't buy many things.... I have a car, clothes, gadgets, etc... I'd rather enjoy the bigger paycheck and invest it... and through investing hope that it creates new jobs.
@egingemu More than 80% of all tax returns are eliminated under the FairTax--every individual filing. 80 percent of all retail sales now occur at large retail chains like Wal-Mart. The point is oversight will still reside under the Treasury Department but the government's responsibility will be over a far smaller "universe" of tax collection points making compliance oversight far less costly and far more effective than the current system.
@egingemu If U pay an 8% income tax & 15% self employment tax mowing lawns, painting, or roof homes, UR tax liability would B 23% of UR income. Why should there B more tax evasion with a 23% fairtax?
If U don't register UR business U will pay the fairtax on UR black market business purchases; & end up passing the cost onto UR consumers. That reduces the benefit of cheating, & lessons the impact on revenue to the government. Better hope UR customers doesn't report U for a reward. Cheers
Phil0will1, the 16th Amendment--like it or hate it (and I hate it) is an amendment to the Constitution and therefore is as applicable a part of that document as the First Amendment or any other part of it. It's the law of the land. What do you want Glenn Beck to do, pretend it doesn't exist?
@egingemu 16th amendment only *allows* for tax on income without having to apportion those revenues among the states or base it on the Census. It doesn't *require* it.
After not having government raiding wage-earners pocket-books even before they get it their hands on their paychecks, do you really think people would want to go back to an income tax (even a flat one?).
By the way, the 16th amendment can be repealed like any amendment (e.g. the 18th amendment).
Just as the 18th amendment was passed, and then the states ratified it as part of the constitution, so was the 21st amendment that repeals the 18th amendment.
Just as the 18th amendment was a bad idea, so has been the 16th. It need repealing also.
Interesting juxtaposition of questions - how do we tell who the progressives are?
ANSWER: Those who favor the perpetuation of an income tax (including a FLAT income tax) are progressives (or establishment type politicians, whether R or D).
I find it interesting that a guy who rails about the damage to our country that the progressives have caused also defends the income tax. What is the single biggest legislative achievement of the progressives?
Glenn is completely wrong on this one. The fair tax does NOT pick winners and losers, Every new good or service gets a 23 percent inclusive tax. No picking and choosing, like states currently do with there EXCLUSIVE taxation. Go read a book Glenn,.
Glenn should read the FairTax before talking about it. It creates a flat %.
Glenn's idea still steals the money from your paycheck which does nothing to address illegal immigration, drug dealers, etc. With a sales tax everyone is hit based on their duration in the US.
Glenn apparently has confused a VAT with the FairTax. Do some more homework Glenn! And PLEASE do not push a 'flat' income tax as something we can hold Washington to. That's how the current system started! Payroll taxes are killing the economy too. We need the FairTax!
This is how it started in 1913, a flat tax on the rich.
What is to stop it coming back Mr. Beck? WHAT?!?!?
The only thing is the American people...so tax consumption and everyone has skin in the game, everyone see's the cost of government and every controls their tax rate.
I see your point in making it simple.....but it's been tried, its been done......it's what we're fighting to get rid of!!!
It is against everything that is in our constitution and freedom itself. FairTax allows the consumer to CHOOSE to pay as they see fit by their purchase price and what and how often they buy things. The FairTax is the only solution ... period. Say hi to Steve Forbes for me. I can't believe you of all people would sell out to the likes of him and Dick Armey.
Please read it and talk with Boortz and others like John Linder so you can have a new, clearer understanding of this concept. Also, what would Patrick Henry, the greatest founder in my eyes, say to you about your support for a tax on the fruits of one’s labor???
This among so many other things is why FairTax is better. It will not call for higher tax on one product vs another (that is the VAT -- it is the one that picks winner and losers). FairTax is a single rate tax at the final purchase of NEW products and services -- only once, and never again. The Bill HR25 outlines it all
What about social security and Medicare tax??? Forbes' Flat Tax keeps these in place. It also does not repeal the 16th Amendment (which as you so often tell us is the product of Woody Wilson and the Progressive [Communist] Movement)
I love your programs and your words are most often very inspiring, but you are wrong on this one.
The Flat tax is a tax on DECLARED INCOME. What about those living in this country illegally?? Do you think they all of a sudden are going to start contributing to the general revenue of this country??? What about the crooks, the corporate cheats??? They all avoid the tax and always will as long as it is on declared income.
Glenn, love you long time, but you're wrong on the FairTax. You even admit that the current tax code started as a flat tax, but has morphed into what it is now. The other part is, a flat tax taxes production, whereas the FairTax does not. I'm not a fan of taxes, but I'd much rather pay taxes on consumption, rather than the blood, sweat & tears it took me to produce the wealth necessary to spend.
Beck needs to understand that he has NO research behind his proposal for a flat tax. The Fair Tax has spent over 22 Million in research to make the Fair Tax an economic boom to this country by eliminating corporate taxes as well as all payroll taxes. He rerally needs to shut up and do his homework before he uses his national pulpit to give out misinformation.
Beck claims to have gotten high every single day from ages 16 through 31, using marijuana, cocaine, and booze. He hopped from job-to-job for years, earning a reputation as a major-league anti-social misfit. He considered suicide in the mid-1990s. YOU REALLY LISTEN TO THIS LOSER?????
@58tkdmike Yes, because he's been through it, he's seen the edge....I'll listen to him before I listen to someone who's not been through it trying to explain it.
The recording volume on this was horrendous. Could barely hear it.
Mojavelandbaron 1 week ago
very nice to just have one flat income tax - except for the rich folks who make a majority of their money thru capital gains on their investments would pay 0% tax - how upset would people be if Romney had just indicated that - not even a 15% effective tax rate - that he paid maybe a 1% effective tax rate (you know, the 12.5% on the piddly 350k he made speaking). And also - you can't change the definition of the Fair Tax (different tax rates on different goods) in order to make your argument.
dmurray2012 1 month ago
Why not eliminate the dials on the Fair Tax so it is only a flat sales tax where everything is the same rate?
MrConservative608 1 month ago
@MrConservative608 That is what the fair tax is - he is changing the definition of the fair tax in order to make his argument. Bush commission did the same thing in their analysis - they look at it and say 'well, you'd have to have exceptions to tax, and have different rates on different goods, and therefore it doesn't work'. That's like arguing that his flat 12.5% tax won't work because when people take the mortgage deduction, that people with more expensive houses won't pay taxes.
dmurray2012 1 month ago
There is a BETTER way and it's not a national sales tax.. I think you will agree. please visit NIFTYTAX dot com
Niftytax 1 month ago
Low taxes are fair taxes.
warriorprince1010 2 months ago
The Fair Tax does not apply to used goods and you get a prebate for food, clothing etc.... Also, you can legally evade it by changing your behavior. There is no escape from the income tax.
melodyrhyme2005 4 months ago
I'm confused. It sounded to me like most of his arguments were against a flat tax. lol
ClarkWise 4 months ago
Glen doesn't seem to understand the FairTax eliminates the IRS, The Flat tax does not. Our current system started as a flat tax. Look where it has gotten us. He also does not seem to understand that every one pays the same with no deductions no lobbyists no special favors with the FairTax. You can't say the same for the Flat tax. Glen needs to discuss this with some one who understands the FairTax.
shipprecked 4 months ago
How about we don't tax private individuals any more at all and just concentrate on taxation of actual business entities? Why should private individuals be taxed at all, when every dollar that they earn will be (theoretically speaking) spent SOMEWHERE where it will become income?
diskpanic 4 months ago
flat tax- so no one could bitch about "fair share"
phantom1000A 4 months ago
The only fair tax is flat tax.
hols2000 4 months ago
Glen, you normally get it right when you do your research, but I think you forgot to research this time. Under the fair tax there are ZERO exceptions or exemptions. All new retail goods are taxed at the same rate across the board. The end. The prebate guarantees that the poor pay zero taxes, and the middle class pay low taxes.
HumbleWillis 5 months ago
Part of the Fair Tax plan is to repeal that part of the 16th amendment.
Fair tax would ensure anyone, born citizen, immigrant, illegal immigrant, tourist, etc, would pay a tax inside the country. Would this create a black market? I don't know, how many people like buying stuff illegally? Not many. You'll be making more money, due to the lack of income tax. Plus, get rid of the IRS, that's a government spending cut.
No1Complainer 5 months ago
Glenn, You are forgetting about the intrusion of the IRS into our privacy!!! Come on man, get with the program. Why advocate for disclosing our financial lives to the government? Even you dont disclose that information to your children or parents or friends!!! Why trust the government with that information. It really is none of their business!!!!!!!!
fredbatschelet 6 months ago
So Glenn Beck wants a flat tax because he doesn't like reading?
DonalLynchyou 6 months ago
Glenn could not be more right! I love it 12.5% everyone pays. What a common sense solution!
goduke282 7 months ago
I could not agree more!!!!! Glenn is dead on. Fair tax could be manipulated by special interest! Ron Paul would eliminate the IRS.
Sunshine88886 7 months ago
Russia adopted it in 2001 and it dramatically increase government revenue. it would also destroy the bureaucratic administration the IRS.
lvll138inrs 8 months ago
Flat tax is the same bs we have now with a facelift....try reading fairtax book by neil boertz to learn the facts. Love glenn but he is misinformed!
2ndRaider 9 months ago
How can so many people have their facts so wrong. Fair tax system is the best way for us to take back control of our tax system. The flat tax sounds good but thats all it is. The flat tax was used after the civil war and look where that got us. And for the comments about the "black market"....try educating yourself before you speak. It is referring to the money outside of the tax system from illegal activity. There is too much misinformation to correct ...try reading fairtax by neil boertz
2ndRaider 9 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
From BHI/fairtaxorg:"Households in the lowest income band, with an (AGI) of less than $10,000 annually, would benefit because they would receive the prebate that would more than offset any higher cost of purchasing goods.Households in the top income category, with more than $150,000 in annual income, would also gain as they do not have to pay their highest marginal tax rates. Mid-income category households would lose because the Fair Tax would impose a relatively higher tax rate on them."
Diskatopia 9 months ago
What's so fair about the fair tax? The top 1% of populace of the American economy own 40% of the wealth and pay about 40% of the taxes also. In the fair tax way everyone would pay 20% or thereabouts. Who has a more vested interest in the roads traveled everyday? The worker going to work at the factory or the factory owner? Who has a more vested interest in govmt sponsored goods and services. This is just more brown nosing for rich clients.
macduggles 1 year ago
@macduggles The riches 1% do not pay anywhere near 40% of there earning in taxes, do to all the massive loopholes in the current system. Warren Buffet Pays 17.7% Tax Rate. The rich will still pay a lot more in taxes as the buy more, but most impotently, the fair tax includes a pre-bate that subsidizes the poor and middle case to they end up paying a lower rate. Without this "prebate" it would be a regressiveness tax system, but with it, it is pretty progressive in it's tax rates.
Loathomar 1 year ago
And for you Fair Tax people--do you really think a huge 20%-plus sales tax rate isn't going to create a black market?
egingemu 1 year ago
@egingemu
If the goods are legal then the term you are looking for is gray market. To you though I say so what. Government does not have a right to what you earn. Taxation is theft on a grand scale and at least under a fair tax system people could opt out without going to prison.
I do guarantee this though to all the fair tax believers out there. If one day it does pass, or something along those lines, then prepare to see massive crackdowns on things like yard sales and flea markets.
MrBlakskwrl 1 year ago
@MrBlakskwrl The Fair Tax exempts used goods from the sales tax.
voltairinedecleyre66 7 months ago
@egingemu A reasonable questions, but would a 20% sales taxes be unprecedented in the world? No, current standard rate of VAT in Denmark is 25%, VAT is a little different then sales tax, but it is close enough. So, does Denmark have huge black markets, not really. The UK and many other EU national have these high level consumption tax.
Loathomar 1 year ago
@egingemu There is a lot of room for manipulation with the fair tax. Flat tax is the ONLY fair way to go.
Sunshine88886 7 months ago
@egingemu First, you must understand the current corporate tax is 35%... Businesses don't eat that cost, they pass it down to us. Between 20 and 30% of a $10 item has taxes embedded in the costs. The Fair Tax eliminates the corporate tax, thus eliminating the need to embed taxes... immediately dropping prices of all goods considerably! Then add the National Sales tax and goods only increase slightly. State Sales Taxes exist and black markets aren't quite prominent. So no black market.
sammen89 6 months ago
@egingemu Everyone gets a pre-bate check at the beginning of each month for the amount of taxes one would pay on goods up to the proverty level. So poor people pay no taxes... it discourages people from buying hi-end unnecessary things like high end cars, designer purses, etc. And forces manufacturers to create more efficient,cost effective products... and in the process, eliminating all payroll taxes... making each paycheck bigger.
sammen89 6 months ago
I don't know about you, but I really don't buy many things.... I have a car, clothes, gadgets, etc... I'd rather enjoy the bigger paycheck and invest it... and through investing hope that it creates new jobs.
sammen89 6 months ago
@egingemu More than 80% of all tax returns are eliminated under the FairTax--every individual filing. 80 percent of all retail sales now occur at large retail chains like Wal-Mart. The point is oversight will still reside under the Treasury Department but the government's responsibility will be over a far smaller "universe" of tax collection points making compliance oversight far less costly and far more effective than the current system.
Thatmakessense356 6 months ago
@egingemu Does current state sales tax create a black market at all?
magneziful 1 month ago
Comment removed
dtvgmedia 1 month ago
Comment removed
dtvgmedia 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@egingemu If U pay an 8% income tax & 15% self employment tax mowing lawns, painting, or roof homes, UR tax liability would B 23% of UR income. Why should there B more tax evasion with a 23% fairtax?
If U don't register UR business U will pay the fairtax on UR black market business purchases; & end up passing the cost onto UR consumers. That reduces the benefit of cheating, & lessons the impact on revenue to the government. Better hope UR customers doesn't report U for a reward. Cheers
dtvgmedia 1 month ago
Phil0will1, the 16th Amendment--like it or hate it (and I hate it) is an amendment to the Constitution and therefore is as applicable a part of that document as the First Amendment or any other part of it. It's the law of the land. What do you want Glenn Beck to do, pretend it doesn't exist?
egingemu 1 year ago
@egingemu No, don't pretend it doesn't exist - the Fair Tax includes putting an end to the 16th Amendment the same way Prohibition was ended.
scragsma 5 months ago
@egingemu The 16th amendment isnt a original amendment, it was voted in and it can be voted out just as easily. Im a firm believe of the fair tax.
jrmobb 4 months ago
@egingemu Repeal it.
electricguitarplayr 2 months ago
@egingemu 16th amendment only *allows* for tax on income without having to apportion those revenues among the states or base it on the Census. It doesn't *require* it.
After not having government raiding wage-earners pocket-books even before they get it their hands on their paychecks, do you really think people would want to go back to an income tax (even a flat one?).
By the way, the 16th amendment can be repealed like any amendment (e.g. the 18th amendment).
MerlinYoda 2 months ago
@egingemu It is called 'repeal' of the amendment - they did it with prohibition - look it up. It is an explicit part of the bill.
dmurray2012 1 month ago
@egingemu
Just as the 18th amendment was passed, and then the states ratified it as part of the constitution, so was the 21st amendment that repeals the 18th amendment.
Just as the 18th amendment was a bad idea, so has been the 16th. It need repealing also.
dtvgmedia 1 month ago
Interesting juxtaposition of questions - how do we tell who the progressives are?
ANSWER: Those who favor the perpetuation of an income tax (including a FLAT income tax) are progressives (or establishment type politicians, whether R or D).
I find it interesting that a guy who rails about the damage to our country that the progressives have caused also defends the income tax. What is the single biggest legislative achievement of the progressives?
ANSWER: The 16th amendment.
Phil0will1 1 year ago
Glenn is completely wrong on this one. The fair tax does NOT pick winners and losers, Every new good or service gets a 23 percent inclusive tax. No picking and choosing, like states currently do with there EXCLUSIVE taxation. Go read a book Glenn,.
asleeperj 1 year ago
Beck is full of wishful thingking /Shit on this one, How long before the flat tax gets cut up and the IRS is knocking on doors again ?? Be realistic.
flmcon 1 year ago 4
Glenn should read the FairTax before talking about it. It creates a flat %.
Glenn's idea still steals the money from your paycheck which does nothing to address illegal immigration, drug dealers, etc. With a sales tax everyone is hit based on their duration in the US.
MooreFam2007 1 year ago
Glenn apparently has confused a VAT with the FairTax. Do some more homework Glenn! And PLEASE do not push a 'flat' income tax as something we can hold Washington to. That's how the current system started! Payroll taxes are killing the economy too. We need the FairTax!
fairtaxhtown 1 year ago 3
Flat tax - 12.5% - send it in!!
This is how it started in 1913, a flat tax on the rich.
What is to stop it coming back Mr. Beck? WHAT?!?!?
The only thing is the American people...so tax consumption and everyone has skin in the game, everyone see's the cost of government and every controls their tax rate.
I see your point in making it simple.....but it's been tried, its been done......it's what we're fighting to get rid of!!!
BritBoyProductions 1 year ago
It is against everything that is in our constitution and freedom itself. FairTax allows the consumer to CHOOSE to pay as they see fit by their purchase price and what and how often they buy things. The FairTax is the only solution ... period. Say hi to Steve Forbes for me. I can't believe you of all people would sell out to the likes of him and Dick Armey.
cmalaker1 1 year ago
Please read it and talk with Boortz and others like John Linder so you can have a new, clearer understanding of this concept. Also, what would Patrick Henry, the greatest founder in my eyes, say to you about your support for a tax on the fruits of one’s labor???
cmalaker1 1 year ago
This among so many other things is why FairTax is better. It will not call for higher tax on one product vs another (that is the VAT -- it is the one that picks winner and losers). FairTax is a single rate tax at the final purchase of NEW products and services -- only once, and never again. The Bill HR25 outlines it all
cmalaker1 1 year ago
What about social security and Medicare tax??? Forbes' Flat Tax keeps these in place. It also does not repeal the 16th Amendment (which as you so often tell us is the product of Woody Wilson and the Progressive [Communist] Movement)
cmalaker1 1 year ago
Mr. Beck,
I love your programs and your words are most often very inspiring, but you are wrong on this one.
The Flat tax is a tax on DECLARED INCOME. What about those living in this country illegally?? Do you think they all of a sudden are going to start contributing to the general revenue of this country??? What about the crooks, the corporate cheats??? They all avoid the tax and always will as long as it is on declared income.
cmalaker1 1 year ago
Glenn, love you long time, but you're wrong on the FairTax. You even admit that the current tax code started as a flat tax, but has morphed into what it is now. The other part is, a flat tax taxes production, whereas the FairTax does not. I'm not a fan of taxes, but I'd much rather pay taxes on consumption, rather than the blood, sweat & tears it took me to produce the wealth necessary to spend.
Schitzngrins 1 year ago
Beck needs to understand that he has NO research behind his proposal for a flat tax. The Fair Tax has spent over 22 Million in research to make the Fair Tax an economic boom to this country by eliminating corporate taxes as well as all payroll taxes. He rerally needs to shut up and do his homework before he uses his national pulpit to give out misinformation.
jacknash711 1 year ago
Beck claims to have gotten high every single day from ages 16 through 31, using marijuana, cocaine, and booze. He hopped from job-to-job for years, earning a reputation as a major-league anti-social misfit. He considered suicide in the mid-1990s. YOU REALLY LISTEN TO THIS LOSER?????
58tkdmike 1 year ago
@58tkdmike Yes, because he's been through it, he's seen the edge....I'll listen to him before I listen to someone who's not been through it trying to explain it.
BritBoyProductions 1 year ago