A fair tax solution
Editor:
President John F. Kennedy said, “The largest single barrier to full employment of our manpower and resources and to a higher rate of economic growth is the unrealistically heavy drag of federal income taxes on private purchasing power, initiative and incentive.”
This was only 50 years after the passage of the 16th Amendment and the institution of the income taxes. Today, things are even worse, with the income taxes chasing our jobs overseas and across borders on this continent.
I recently saw a move in the right direction. There is a proposal in congress to do away with the corporate income tax and institute what amounts to a VAT tax of 20 percent of the gross sales price of American goods. The 20 percent tax would also be applied to imported goods.
That gives no advantage to US manufacturing, which must still deal with a higher wage scale and far more strict environmental and safety regulations when compared with notable environmentally failed countries such as China.
I believe the real solution to this is the fair tax. The fair tax removes the income taxes as a cost of doing business in the USA. Some proponents have predicted an 11-18 percent reduction in the retail price of goods manufactured in the USA due to the elimination income taxes by the Fair Tax. If a Jeep made in Toledo sells for $35,000 and a foreign-built SUV sells for $35,000 now, and the Fair Tax eliminates all income taxes, and the Jeep falls by the most conservative savings of 11 percent, then the Jeep would be priced at $31,150. Foreign factories would not benefit from the Fair Tax, so the price of the foreign SUV would remain at $35,000.
I believe that this is the way to put America first. The result of the Fair Tax in this situation would be much higher sales for Jeep, and foreign business executives probably injuring themselves in the stampede to build factories to manufacture their goods in the United States to gain the benefits of income-tax-free manufacturing.
— Frank Gilbert, Fairborn
A response to Mr. Pitts column
Editor:
Mr. Leonard Pitts’ column entitled “The left-right education gap,” in the Feb. 23, 2017 issue of the Xenia Daily Gazette correctly identifies the “most consequential political divide in this country” as the gap between the “ignorant and the informed.” Unfortunately, the remainder of his article incorrectly identifies the “informed” as those liberals who are have been so thoroughly indoctrinated in the secular wisdom of the world that they have arrogantly rejected the time-tested Judeo-Christian wisdom and values found in the Scriptures.
By contrast, he cites the well-known professing Christians Michele Bachman, Sarah Palin and Louie Gohmert as examples of the “knowledge-starved” conservatives. Mr. Pitts, thereby, implies that this “ignorant” class includes anyone who believes that: innocent unborn babies should not be murdered for the convenience of their mothers (Exodus 20:13); that humankind was created male and female in the image of God, and therefore marriage can only be between a man and a woman (Matthew 19:4-6); that the incredible diversity, inter-dependency, beauty, intelligence, love, etc., observed in the world’s complex living systems was created by Almighty God and did not evolve over billions of years from non-life with no intelligent guidance (Exodus 20:11).
Mr. Pitts expressed concern that his characterization of the “ignorant” might be seen as “coming off like a snob or bully.” However, for those familiar with the Scriptures, his article might evoke a more fitting passage: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22).
— William A. Grissom Ph.D., Xenia
