Okay, so the right really hates taxes. Somehow borrowing trillions from the Chinese is better than taxing Americans for American stuff. Hmmm. How does that scale? Anyway, they really don’t want anyone anywhere ever paying taxes, and somehow that leads to a better future. Don’t know about you, but I like paved roads, police protection, regulation of food safety, zoning and a host of other things our taxes buy us. I think we could shrink the military budget by 75% and not miss a step, but I digress.

A favorite of the right and especially Libertarians is the so-called “fair tax”.

The idea is that transactions are taxed, rather than earnings or income. It’s a consumption tax. Uh huh. This is going to work. How about if I sell a car to a relative (which I just did). Are we expected to cough up a tax? What if I don’t? What about yard sales? Barter? Gun shows? I can’t imagine a more intrusive invasion of privacy than checking up on all personal transactions. When I was 29, my dad gave me $20,000. When I was 36, I bought him a $20,000 Miata. Was that a taxable transaction? What if I donated $30,000 to the SAAB dealership and coincidentally they donated a car to me. Is that taxable? The rate they presume for this scheme is 23%, so my dealing with the SAAB dealer would save me almost $7,000. As much effort as is spent on tax avoidance now, one could only imagine the kind of scams that would proliferate under a “fair tax”. I honestly think these right wing assclowns want the US government to simply collapse to fit into their virulently anti-tax, anti-government agenda.

Thanks Dog the Republicans are down to one in five Americans.