Your Opinion: Unfair article about Fair Tax

Dear Editor:

Dennis Mobrice's article about the Mo Fair Tax in the April issue of Active Times is misleading, at best. His facts are incorrect. He fails to give the entire picture and it is biased to support AARP lobbying interests.

The Mo Fair Tax is intended to eliminate income and corporate taxes with a sales tax on goods and services. If there is no income tax, individuals will receive 100 percent of their salaries and their pensions. If there are no income taxes, then income tax breaks become irrelevant.

I will gladly give up my tax breaks to receive 100 percent of my pension. The sales tax will apply to anyone making purchases, including out of state visitors. That will result in an increase in state revenue without an increase in taxes on individual citizens. That might eventually reduce the amount of the sales tax.

In referring to the prebates (a once-a-month check to cover basic necessities) Mobrice comments, "The administrative costs of that alone, I can't even imagine." The administrative costs of a prebate would surely be no less staggering than the current administrative costs of reviewing individual income tax returns, refunding over payments, auditing tax returns, and the number of government employees required to interpret the labyrinth of income tax regulations. Think of the printing costs that would be saved doing away with all those income tax regulations. I will gladly pay a sales tax versus the burden of hours completing income tax forms and maintaining files to support those returns.

If corporate taxes are eliminated, businesses can put the money they would ordinarily give to the state government into increasing productivity. Increased productivity could result in more employment.

The idea of the Fair Tax is to increase productivity and prosperity. A number of states do not have a state income tax and are prospering. Missouri could be doing the same. Surely AARP is not opposed to productivity and prosperity, although, with productivity and prosperity for everyone what would AARP lobby government for?