Posted: Jun 04, 2005 By: Dan Conine

Subject: Farming, government

Comment: Under the current taxation system, I feel intimidated in hiring people to work for me. No matter how careful I am, the law is so complex, I feel that there will always be some aspect of it that makes me a criminal. The goal of taxation is to collect money for the government. The majority of government services are necessary because of the level of consumption in any particular country. If people choose to buy more things, they tend to move to the suburbs to have a place for those things. This puts a demand for highways, law enforcement, additional fire protection, etc., while also raising land prices, which causes the need for increased subsidies to farms in those areas. Highly consumptive lifestyles are unhealthy, creating needs for more hospitals and doctors, elderly care to take care of parents who 'don't belong' in the high-speed suburban lifestyle, and daycare centers to be regulated and certified for children who aren't quite old enough for the public schools, which are continuously being rebuilt and reorganized due to the exodus to consumption.
We cannot economically or environmentally sustain the growth of consumption at its present state, because it is all based on cheap energy. We need to start thinking about putting labor back into our lives that has been replaced by oil. The best way to do that which is currently available is to base the cost of government directly on the level of consumption by utilizing the FairTax plan. (HR25)
The economic experts who have developed this plan are convinced it will boost the employment and other economic indicators by streamlining our tax code and eliminating redundancy. I suggest that in order to make it even more appropriate to both the future and the present, the tax rate of the FairTax should be closer to 30% in order to encourage savings and practicality rather than trying to keep the same level of consumption we are now at. There is a lot of opposition to this idea because the majority of people don't understand that they are paying more than this already in the hidden costs of products and services. It's time to educate people about where the money comes from, and where it is going, as well as how much is really being paid in costs of administration of the current system.

Thank you for your time.