Bradley HankinsThanks to John over at ProfessorJP. Me and John were talking about taxes today, and he pointed me over to his blog, where a favorite blogger of mine over at TheBoboFiles left an interesting comment under a post about the Fair Tax. The comment was in reference to the Automated Payment Transaction Tax.
When I first ventured over to the website, I was hit with the first image of this proposal, and it stated: Instead of… personal income tax, corporate income tax, state income tax, fuel tax, capitol gains tax, gift tax, instate tax, excise tax, and sales tax… one very low, universal rate tax automatically and immediatly collected - no tax returns, lobbying for special interests, no special deductions.Now, doesn’t this all sound grand - even better than the Fair Tax! Here’s a quote from the webpage itself:
In order to raise the same amount of revenue as our current tax system, a “revenue neutral” APT tax would impose a single tiny tax rate on each and every transaction in the economy. All deductions and exemptions would be eliminated. By declaring a “zero tolerance” policy for any exemption, we wipe out every special interest loophole that now riddles our overly complex tax code. Since the volume of all transactions is estimated to be 100 times larger than the current tax base, the flat tax rate needed to raise the same amount of revenues is just a hundredth of the current average tax rate of roughly 30%. So if transactions stayed at their current level, the APT tax rate would be three tenths of one percent (0.3%) on each transaction. Even if total transactions fell by 50%, the revenue neutral APT tax rate would only be six tenths of one percent (0.6%) split equally between the buyer and seller in each transaction so each would pay 0.3%. Feige details how the replacement of our current tax system with an APT tax could save the government and its citizens as much as $500 billion annually by eliminating the compliance, collection, enforcement and inefficiency costs of our current tax system. Additional savings would accrue society in general, which are impossible to compute. Just think of all those beautiful trees that will be left standing when we stop printing the 17,000 page Tax Code and the millions (maybe billions) of copies of forms with instructions still being used at both federal and state levels
To find out more on how it would work, and how the government would make money, I suggest you go over and check out the website yourself, which is filled with all the information you would want about the APT tax, and more.
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(4 out of 5)
on Jul 13th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
OK. I just completed my blog. I tried to go into a little detail on the APTT and explain how it worked. I even had to bite my own words and admit it was better than the fair tax.
on Jul 13th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Yea, I decided not to go to much in detail so people wouldn’t check out the APT website. With just general knowledge maybe people will be tempted to check it out, plus, like Glenn Beck said, talking about taxes can be pretty boring, and it does get down deep with this website.
The APT tax would be better in my opinion, and it would be far, plus it makes a lot of sense.
on Jul 14th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Thank you for your accurate and perceptive comments on APT Tax.
This indeed is a futuristic idea whose time has come to replace the tired old Fair and Flat that for good reason are not going to make the grade. As you realized APT does absolutely all the positives provided by Fair but has none of the negatives, while substantially reducing taxes for most all citizens. I have been debating APT for nearly three years now and have yet to meet a “killer” argument. I have tried to address the most common concerns on the website ( http://www.apttax.com ) under FAQ. As you surmise though I have not been a very effective “cheerleader” for the concept since you are just hearing of it now.
I perceived APT as solving many problems we face three years ago. Checked out the author and his research and found them to be highly credible and decided to attempt to move this out of academics. I thought all the positives would sell themselves but that was soon to be shot down by the large “guns” facing me from ANYTHING challenging the Fair Tax.
As you learn more you hopefully will find a very detailed and honest presentation that can appeal to both parties.
on Jul 14th, 2008 at 10:43 am
It’s no problem Mr. Hermann. After seeing your website, and reading about the APT tax, I too really couldn’t see a reason not to adopt this as quickly as possibly. I find anything that seems to work well, isn’t that much complicated, and makes a whole lot of sense very appealing - and this tax is the above to me.
I will try my best to help spread the word about the APT tax, as that is the only thing I really can do. I did post this blog post, but Kayloo isn’t seen by everybody as it is a small political blog, but I hope for it to grow.
When I go into politics I will hold this system close to me, and preach it, and hopefully one day we can see this happen, if not by you or me, but hopefully someone else.
For now, I fully endorse this tax system, and will continue to spread the word like I said before.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
on Jul 14th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Going into politics is an admirable goal — good luck.
If you find an argument about APT that seems difficult to handle - check the website and/or let me know — I can either help you understand the issue or maybe it will be a flaw not yet appreciated. I am constantly on the look out for things that prove APT unworkable — i tis the only way to prudently approach a new idea. Adequate and growing revenue with decreased tax burden is a pretty powerful political idea that touches many issues.
on Jul 14th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Thanks.
And I will keep checking with the sites, and if there are any problems then you better bet I will check it back out with you.