Talk:Automated payment transaction tax

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In my opinion as a state and local tax professional (US Sales & Use, Canadian (HST/GST/PST/QST)), I cannot imagine a more simplified, streamlined methodology by which revenue is generated for the function of government. I stumbled across Dr. Fiege's proposal while researching the Fair Tax provisions. My initial reaction was, "Holy schmolley...this accomplishes with a fraction of the effort all that the Fair Tax claims it can accomplish IF a number of huge hurdles can be breached."

Imagine a single federal tax regime that:

1. Requires no information or tax returns by any citizen or person;

2. Requires only system-wide monitoring, not auditiing per se (or at least, a negligible amount of auditing);

3. Is collected in a purely transparent fashion as each tax incident occurs, while being scalable to any level of economic growth;

4. Instantly idles the entire cottage industries of tax lobbying, tax consulting, tax compliance, adjudication, tax research, etc.

5. A national rate could be changed overnight with the flip of a switch, nothing more. No more reprogramming of cash registers.

6. Tax revenue deposits into the US Treasury occur in real-time. There's no lag whatsoever.

7. Resides beyond the reach of criminals and tax cheats to evade.

I see but one possible area of improvement: devise a state apportionment scheme whereby the US Treasury would remit to the states an equitable amount of revenue IF they agreed to eliminate all taxes and tax administration. A 3-prong factor that included population, population density, and land area would enable each of the states to lay claim to an amount that, combined with the monies saved from in-state tax administrative operations, would enable them to carry on as usual.

All of which leads me to my next observation: Where are the nation's economic and fiscal experts? It's as if Dr. Fiege has discovered the national equivalent of the Fountain of Youth, but no one is interested. I defy Neal Boortz or any Fair Tax supporter to explain how the Fair Tax trumps this proposal. Sequoia50 17:00, 20 August 2007 (UTC)Sequoia50