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Originally Posted by dirtyrascal7
Well, you asked how the national sales tax system would shift the burden onto the poor and middle classes, so I was simply pointing out that it would be a much bigger burden on this particular demographic of poor people compared to the current tax system. In response to your question, I don't know what their reasoning is, but not being able to afford it apparently isn't a good enough reason to stop... if it was then this country wouldn't have millions of families neck-deep in debt.
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Can you give us a specific quote or explanation on how this would happen? The flat tax is specificly designed to help PROTECT the lower class from being hurt. The basis on a flat tax is on what you spend, with "necessities" such as food being exempt from the tax.
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Originally Posted by kadath
....was looking at my expenses and my biggest single expense is rent. I'm not buying anything: do I pay sales tax on that?
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According to the flat-tax system models that I have seen...no, if you were RENTING you would not pay a tax on your rent, but you WOULD pay a tax on Electric and water (consumables) One of the small loopholes in the flat tax system IS renters, who would actually benefit more. (it is something that they are looking at)
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Originally Posted by kadath
What about when I buy a house? Do I pay tax on the whole cost of the house when I get the mortgage? Does the bank pay it, because they own it until I pay them off? And I'm not alone. I would guess that housing represents a third of expenditure for most families.
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As in my post shortly before yours, yes you would pay a sales tax on home purchases. As it is today, you pay sales tax when you buy a home, NOT by the bank.... and by the flat tax program, only on the initial purchase would you be paying the federal tax....no tax on "property" tax. Remember guys. PROPERT tax and INCOME tax are two SEPARATE taxes! the flat tax proposed will ONLY affect SALES tax, not PROPERTY tax. (and NO you will not pay sales tax on property tax. remember that in current laws, property tax is a tax write-off in our current system, so with the flat-tax proposals, property tax is exempt from sales taxes)