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« Today's Reading List | Main | Today's Reading List » November 8, 2005Today's Reading ListThe War: England's Tony Blair blasted the Iranian regime for its support of terrorism, plus much more in today's daily briefing from Regime Change Iran has the latest round-up updates on the situation in Iran, which is openly pursuing the development of nuclear weapons and whose recently elected new president has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." RCI should be a daily read for anyone interested in the true scope of the challenge the civilized world faces from world of Islamist terror. Politics: Blogger Mark Rose has an op-ed in today's Tennessean urging support for the "Fair Tax" proposed by Georgia congressman John Linder and pushed in a popular new book by radio talker Neil Boortz. Katrina: Louisiana officials say the state can't afford its share of federally-funded Katrina recovery efforts - under federal law, states are required to pick up part of the cost for certain types of disaster assistance from FEMA, including repairs to state infrastructure, efforts to minimize future damage from flooding or storms and some home repairs for individuals. Louisiania, where FEMA will spend $37.6 billion provided by taxpayers outside of Louisiana, says it can't afford its $3.7 billion share. But the state doesn't mind blowing $45 million of your federal tax dollars to build a new "Moorehouse Parish Equine Center" to host horse, cow, dog, goat and art shows; rodeos; auctions; crawfish festivals; lawn-mower races; religious functions; an animal shelter; and a community center. Requiring Louisiana to pay back its $3.7 billion share of hurricane recovery costs over 10 years - instead of exempting them from the cost, as Louisiana's lawmakers seem to want - might reduce their appetite for such silly pork. Education: Are rural schools better than urban schools? Ask the Pentagon. Posted in Today's Reading List
Comments
I'm all for the Fair Tax but not 23%. Boortz and Linder are not being up front about the 23% rate. I noticed that Mark Rose did not pick up on it either. The fair tax is not a flat rate tax like the Tenn. sales tax although most articles present it as such. It is an embedded 23%. Embedding the 23% means that of a $100 purchase, $23 is tax and $77 is the cost of goods which equates to a 30% flat rate sales tax. Boortz, Linder and the Fair Tax site don't publicize this much. And you can understand why. Who in their right mind would agree to a 30% sales tax? And that will be the argument used by opponents because they know 90% of the citizenry don't understand embedded taxes nor care. It is true that current products and services already have a 23% embedded cost from regulations, compliance, income and other taxes. People don't realize it when they make a purchase because it's hidden. Under the Fair Tax those embedded costs would be removed and the final cost of the product would be the same only on new products or services. The hope is that by itemizing the tax on a sales receipt people will push for a reduction in the rate. But the fair tax rate is based on projected budgets. Without a companion bill to limit spending based on inflation and population growth there is nothing to keep Congress from jacking the rate to cover critical spending like a $50M bridge for 50 people. Posted by: Rick Forman at November 8, 2005 7:47 AMPost a comment
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