Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Flat Tax

["Christian M. Cepel" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

It must be nice to have your opinions fed to you and be able to dismiss 
a book out of hand entirely unread.

And yes... many many people I know have suggested this book.  They've 
actually read it.  It's intriguing even if the numbers will be slightly 
different.

I am going to play your angle and dismiss Jon's article out of hand 
based on your review of it.  40% is downright ludicrous.

Further, just like Boortz I'm sure this guy has his own agenda and seeks 
to make a name for himself...  don't we all?  I'd like to know where he 
stands on other issues before I just take his academics as credentials.  
Too often I bump into college professors who actually buy into their own 
psuedointellectual nonsense and believe they've got a clue about the 
real world.  Most of these people exist in a bubble where the delude 
themselves into thinking that they're the intellectual elites and that 
they have an understanding of things that mere-mortals (those who live 
in the real world) could not possibly grasp.  I hate to use such a rude 
phrase, but it really is a circle jerk.

I can't tell you how much the fact that it's published in a failing 
ultra-lib newspaper recommends it to me.

Btw.. I listen to Boortz regularly and a lot of what he says makes a lot 
of sense  O'Reilly thinks he's got his finger on "no-spin", but Boortz 
has his finger on No-BS.  Most people either love him or hate him, but 
they keep listening either way.  I myself hate and love topically\

I expect you'll also dismiss him out of hand w/o having ever listened to 
a single half-hour of his broadcast.  It's much easier that way.

Mike Miller wrote:
> On Thu, 4 Jan 2007, Christian M. Cepel wrote:
>
> > Just a general reply to your mention of cars and homes, but reality 
> > is of the kind outlined in the fair-tax book, than none of those 
> > prices would increase at all.  There's reasons why it pretty much 
> > balances out...  It is also suggested that we will see a boom in US 
> > production and a much better and more stable economy.
>
> Well, if everything will be better and nothing will be worse, then of 
> course we should do it.  It sounds more like a sales talk than an 
> informative book.
>
>
> > I've read the book and don't recall seeing 40% anywhere.
>
> Right.  That's because they are selling a plan.  It's a beautiful and 
> perfect plan that will solve all of our problems for only 23%.  The 
> 40% was found in the critical review in the NY Times sent by Jon King:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/13/books/review/13slemrod.html?ei=5088&en=adb65ce66e79b77f&ex=1289538000&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print 
>
>
>    In order to fully replace all federal taxes, the sales tax would
>    probably have to be at least 40 percent - possibly even more than 
> twice
>    the 23 percent rate the authors claim, and certainly far higher than
>    anything ever levied by any country.
>
> And:
>
>    For a book that claims in its introduction to be "about honesty," this
>    statement falls far short. No reputable economist of any political
>    stripe would support it. The honest truth is that replacing the 
> current
>    tax system with any system that raises the same amount of revenue (as
>    Boortz and Linder claim their plan does) may make us better off, but
>    only by redirecting our resources away from dealing with complex 
> filing
>    requirements and improving our incentives to work, save and innovate -
>    not by creating the kind of free-lunch miracle suggested here.
>
> The author of that review (Joel Slemrod) is a professor of economics 
> at the University of Michigan.  I prefer to believe what he says 
> rather than read the Boortz/Linder book because I have the impression 
> that they are full of crap.
>
> I have to wonder why anyone would read their book.  Did someone tell 
> you that you should read it?  Tax law and its effects aren't the sorts 
> of things any of us (on this list) can readily evaluate given the 
> complexity of the problems.  You really have to be a pretty 
> highly-trained economist to have a clue.  It is wise to always be 
> skeptical.  I prefer to read several expert opinions than to read the 
> sales brochure.
>
> Mike
>
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--
Christian M. Cepel - Thistledowne Productions - http://thistledowne.org
Computer Support Specialist, Sr. - University of Missouri - Columbia
College of Education - School of Info Science & Learning Technologies
VRCbd, KidTools & StrategyTools Support Systems Projects, and Truman,
Library Whistlestop Project - Web Design & Programming - 573.999.2370


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