Oct 28 2008
Clyburn, Harrelson Debate
Jim Clyburn (D-SC-06) debated his Republican challenger Nancy Harrelson yesterday and they delved into one of my favorite issues, the Fair Tax.
They disagreed most pointedly on the Fair Tax, a plan to replace the federal income tax with a national sales tax.
Harrelson, 54, a Republican political newcomer who works as a construction manager in Marion, supports the Fair Tax, which she said would stop jobs from leaving the United States.
“There are only so many people who can work at McDonald’s and Hardee’s, but without other jobs, people won’t be able to afford to eat at McDonald’s and Hardee’s,” she said.
Clyburn, 68, who is seeking his ninth term, said the Fair Tax would result in people paying a 30 percent tax whenever they bought something. He noted that anyone making less than $200,000 a year would be hurt by the change.
“It is anything but fair,” he said. “You’ll be paying an extra dollar for every gallon of gas you buy.”
Of course, in Clyburn’s descent he only tells half the story. Sure, we would be pay a 30% tax on all new goods and services, but what is he doesn’t tell you is that you will no longer be having any Federal tax witholdings taken from your check, so you’ll be getting almost the entire thing. Furthermore, all of the taxation that would take place in each phase of manufacturing a product is also wiped away which will cut roughly 25% to 30% of the price we pay for goods and services, so you’ll still be paying close to the same prices as today, but you’ll have considerably more money at your disposal.
The Fair Tax will never become reality however, because the tax code is really what makes the politicians so powerful in D.C. They wouldn’t be able to use it as a wedge issue any more at election time and gain favor from certain special interests by putting protections in the tax code for them. This is why we’ll never see it passed.
Clyburn is going to easily win reelection. This district was carved out to specifically elect a black Congressman so Harrelson is nothing more than a sacrificial lamb in this race for the GOP. Another good reason to away with gerrymandering.
A co-worker that watched the debate told me that the FairTax would cause him to pay $130 for $100 worth of groceries.
I asked him how much he first had to earn in order to have that $100 in his pocket. If, like me, he’s in the 25% tax bracket and has 7.65% employment taxes removed from his check before he ever sees it, he would first have to earn around $150 so as to be able to pull that $100 bill from his wallet.
I told him that paying $130 would be a bargain compared to what he is paying now for that same $100 worth of groceries.
And that’s not even considering the fact that by abolishing the embedded taxes that went into the cost of that $100 worth of groceries would reduce that cost to less than $80.
And no mention of the ‘prebate’ feature that would refund to each and every taxpayer the amount of tax they would pay up to the poverty level.
Next Tuesday, I’m voting for Nancy Harrelson and Bob Conley, as both are FairTax supporters.