The Revenue from the Current System we need to Replace
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) does a wonderful job of keeping and publishing historical budget data. In particular, they publish tables of government revenue by major source. If you look at the 2003 numbers in this table you will find (in billions of dollars):
| Year | Individual Income Tax | Corporate Income Taxes | Social Insurance Taxes | Excise Taxes | Estate & Gift Taxes | Customs Duties | Miscellaneous Receipts | Total Revenues |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 793.7 | 131.8 | 713.0 | 67.5 | 22.0 | 19.9 | 34.5 | 1,782.3 |
The FairTax repeals the taxes for the columns highlighted above in green. So the FairTax must replace the $793.7 + $131.8 + $713.0 + $22.0 = $1660.5 billion dollars in revenue. I will not discuss in detail the source of the $22.0 billion in gift and estate taxes, because it is so small.
posted by quadrupole @ 1:26 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
matt p.
The issue of *why* we are running deficits is a whole different issue than fundamental tax reform. For example, I happen to believe that our deficits are a spending side problem, not a revenue side problem. I would gather from your response you feel the opposite. Frankly, I'd rather not argue with you about that in this context. It doesn't really have any bearing as to whether the FairTax is a better way of raising revenue and should be adopted.
By making the FairTax revenue neutral, you effectively move all the other contentious points about the size and scope of government off the table. Those questions are important, but they are *different* questions than what form our tax system should take. You and I can disagree substantially about government size and scope and still agree on the FairTax.
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