Is there a fair tax?

In response to last week’s question, "Is there a fair tax?," my writing and sailing friend Rich concluded, "Fair is when someone else pays.  Justice is when the right someone else pays," to which my Constitutional lawyer friend Phil shared, "Fairness like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Unlike beauty, however, tax is by its very nature taxing."

My temple friend Richard explained, "When someone says something isn’t fair, my daughter says 'Fair? A fair is where you go to eat cotton candy and ride the Ferris Wheel.'  Since I’m sure there’s a tax on our tickets to the fair, I’ll say yes, there is a fair tax.   Or perhaps you meant 'fare'? I know you pay tax for your taxi cab ride.  Is there a fare tax on Uber rides?"

My birthday bud Jon observed, "Yes—the outrageous price for food at the Fair," to which my cousin Valarie clarified, "It's included in your ticket; once you pay the admission fee, all the rides are 'free.' "  My business coaching friend Lindy pointed out, "I always taught my children, when they talked about being fair, that a fair comes to town once a year. So if there is a fair tax, I think it would only come to town once a year."

My dad's beach buddy Bob called out, "There could only be a fair tax if you could avoid paying it and it was non recurring."  My college roomie John thought, "Maybe it's the sin taxes - like taxes on liquor and cigarettes.  I still keep buying."

My engineering friend Steve replied, "If you can get past tax is theft, well yes, it’s HR25 introduced in Congress every year since 1999 I believe."  My sailing friend Norm added ,     "A  Fair Tax would be if everyone paid the same tax rate whether you made $10 or $10,000,000. At 10% rate, the person making $10 would pay $1 and the person making $10,000,000 would pay $1,000,000.  That is fair.  A flat tax or consumption tax might be a 'fair tax.'  Any tax that attempts to influence buying or social behavior is not a fair tax.   I would be against a consumption tax unless the 16th amendment was repealed.  Otherwise, our government would add the consumption tax on top of the income tax and that is not fair.    When you add up all the taxes the average person pays, you would be amazed at how much our governments take from us.  Real estate taxes, ad valorem taxes, use taxes, sales taxes, income taxes."

My social media friend Mark requested, "Only if we ALL thought and felt exactly the same about everything" to which my PR friend Stan wrote, "Yes, there is a fair tax – and it involves all of us paying according to our ability to ensure that all Americans can have the basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, shelter and healthcare. If we simplified the tax code while making them more equitable, that would put a lot of accountants and professional tax preparers out of work, which could have a trickle-down effect on all forms of retail jobs…and marketing jobs…  Don’t get me started," then suggesting we check out this video about what people know about taxes.

Then please send me your thoughts about this week's "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ":

What is so bad that it is soap "scum"?

We don't stop laughing because we get old. We get old because we stop laughing.  Make it a priority to have fun and make others laugh.

Hal

My temple friend Henry called out the passing earlier this month of Don Rickles, "Nothing like a little ‘insult humor’ to start your oxymorons for the day."  Click here to see why Henry was on target.

Thanks to Demetri Martin, Steven Wright and George Carlin for the inspiration for Hmmm.   I invite you to call or email me to catch up.