The FairTax Calculator

When Copernicus, Kepler and Newton proposed their theories about how the motions of the planets were governed by the physics of the solar system, they all had a very unique problem in common. People of their time were so entrenched in the mistaken teachings of Aristotle that it was a nearly insurmountable goal to get them to view the universe any other way.

For example, we do not feel the earth move underneath our feet, and therefore assume that it is solid and unchanging. But in contrast, we watch the sun, moon and stars rise in the east, move across the sky above us and then set in the west. It is only natural that primitive humans would assume that the earth was fixed and stationary and the celestial bodies went around the earth rather than the earth being one of several planets that went around the sun.

I think the same argument applies to taxation. We are so entrenched in the idea of government taxing our income, our homes, our cars and numerous other things that many are unable to view the system of taxation any other way.

Well, we know that as time went on, Copernicus, Kepler and Newton were vindicated and today, we teach schoolchildren the truth about planetary motion. I believe the same will happen with the FairTax. But the process will not be easy. New ideas rarely have an easy time of gaining acceptance.

Thus, to help ease the fear of the unknown of this new idea known as the FairTax, the FairTax Foundation has provided a Fair Tax Calculator to show people, in real numbers, the benefits of the FairTax over the current system.

To use the calculator, you will need the following information:

Are you self-employed? Are you married? How many members in your household? What is your gross annual income? What percentage of your gross income did you pay one your tax return? Are you filng joint or single? Are you recieving Social Security benefits? Do you have a mortgage? What is the outstanding principle on the mortgage? What is the term of your mortgage? What is the interest rate of your mortgage? How much do you invest in IRA's, 401k's and other pretax plans? How much do you invest in non-pretax plans? What amount do you give to charity every year? How much do you spend on tuition? How much do you spend on gifts to friends? How much do you spend on used items?

Note that none of this giving away any personal information. The calculator is completely anonymous. And if the data entry looks overwhelming, remember that for the vast majority of people, most of these answers will be zero.

I did a calculation on myself and the numbers were pretty eye-opening. My purchasing power went from $34,046.34 under the current system to $51,399.00 under the FairTax and my effective Federal Tax Rate went from 32.08% under the current system to 14.44% under the FairTax.

That's a big difference. Imagine if millions of taxpayers across the spectrum were to realize benefits like this. What a jump start that would give to our economy! Billions of dollars would be freed up to become capital investments and the United States would become the world's largest tax haven thereby encouraging foreign investment rather than foreign ownership. Jobs that have been outsourced off-shore would return to the United States and unemployment would drop.

What does the FairTax do? It replaces the entire Federal Tax Code with one simple, easy to understand and completely visible national sales tax on new goods and services. No more income tax, no more hidden taxes, no more death tax, no more any tax on personal wealth or income.

The FairTax:

• Enables workers to keep their entire paycheck
  
• Enables retirees to keep their entire pension
  
• Refunds in advance the tax on purchases of basic necessities
  
• Allows American products to compete fairly
  
• Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
  
• Ensures Social Security and Medicare funding
  
• Closes all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
  
• Abolishes the IRS
  

Additionally, the FairTax is the only Tax Reform plan that addresses the three following end-goals:

1) The plan must remove from the IRS any power to intrude on the private lives of American citizens.
2) The plan must remove from the K Street lobbyists any power to influence Congressional votes.
3) The plan must not allow hidden taxes to be passed along to the consumer at any time.

You can calculate your own benefits under the FairTax at the following link:

FairTax Calculator (Requires Flash 9, a free download)
FairTax.org

You can learn more about the FairTax on-line here:


Americans For Fair Taxation