| senseinobaka said: The prebate is not welfare. It's compensation for money that the individual will pay in taxes. Think of it as tax forgiveness for essentials. Everyone will get this tax forgiveness no matter what their income is. Welfare on the other hand is government giving an individual money they did not earn. Usually the money comes from public funds that were taxed by working individuals. I believe sincerely that the ideaology and reasons behind the prebate are very different than those of welfare. |
It isn't compensation for money that the individual will pay in taxes. If it were, you would measure what the individual spent on essentials, and give them 23% of that back. Instead, the government gives each person an "allowance" of what they think covers essential expenses, and pays them back for the taxes on those expenses whether or not the person spends that much (they could spend less or more on essentials, depending on their living conditions).
Something I see a lot in this discussion are the FairTax supporters saying "think of it as _____." You have to realize there are different ways of looking at something, and at the end of the day, it is what it is, no matter what you call it, and no matter what kind of ideology is behind it. Wouldn't it be easier to just not tax essential products and skip the prebate? That way, no one is paying tax on essential products, and no one is getting welfare checks even if they didn't pay that much in taxes on essentials. The prebate doesn't account for different costs of goods in different areas, it doesn't account for bums who spend their money on alcohol instead of food and clothing, and it requires an address which prevents the homeless from being compensated.
The sponsors of the FairTax are big on getting rid of the complex Income Tax system and replacing it with something simple without loopholes and exceptions and what not. So why do we need this prebate system if we can just not tax essentials from the get go? Why bother setting up another government agency to track whether you're single or married or have kids to print all the prebate checks? Again, I really like the idea of a consumption tax vs. an income tax, but the prebate is exactly the kind of political ridiculousness that we're trying to get rid of.
