Came across this message on the Yahoo Fairtax list that I subscribe to and thought I should include it here. My apologies to the author if you did not want it reproduced (tough shit in other words):
There is one thing that I would like to clarify, if I might. With the
FairTax bill, as it is currently written, there is absolutely no need
for exemptions of any kind. To replace this concept, the people
who designed the bill ingeniously created the idea of a Family
Consumption Allowance (FCA) to COMPLETELY eliminate the
tax burden on those living under the poverty line.
This is how it works. At the beginning of each month, prior to
spending, ALL families, rich or poor, receive a credit, calculated
according to household size and indexed to the poverty schedule
in accordance with the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS). Depending on the size of your family, you will
receive a credit, usually in the form of electronic transfer, that is
equal to the total amount of taxes you WOULD spend up to the
poverty line, IF you were to spend that much of your income.
This basically means three things:
1. If you spend BELOW the poverty line for a given month, you will
realize a net GAIN, since you will be reimbursed an amount that
exceeds what your family actually spent in taxes. This means
that you have a negative tax rate for that month.
2. If you spend EXACTLY AT the poverty line for a given month,
you will pay ZERO taxes, since you will be reimbursed an
amount that equals what your family actually spent in taxes. This
means that you have a 0% tax rate for that month.
3. If you spend ABOVE the poverty line for a given month, you will
start to pay taxes out of your own pocket, since you will be
reimbursed an amount that is less than what your family actually
spent in taxes. This means that you have a tax rate for that month
which is PROGRESSIVE; the more you spend, the higher your
actual tax rate becomes.
The FCA is really the key to making the FairTax “fair.” Leo
Linbeck, the “Godfather” of the FairTax, once put together a great
table showing the progressivity of the FairTax. Anyone who ever
tells you that the FairTax is “regressive” either does not
understand the concept of the FCA or is intentionally spinning
the issue. I hope this simple explanation helps you to
understand the reason for this argument, as well as the
superiority of the FairTax plan as a whole.
Very best regards,
David Klepinger
Volunteer Regional Director (GA, NC, SC)
For more information on the Fairtax Act go here
August 12, 2004
More HTPC stuff
I’ve spent alot of time over the last couple of weeks working on the HTPC. Main programs are there. Beyond TV Beta, which I am also using for videos, rather than Beyond Media. Beyond Media has some issues and will not let me add as many video folders as I can with the TV application. Go figure. I am using Beyond Media to display photo’s and music. Could use some work with the Audio library interface, but it is pretty decent. Shitty browser interface. It includes Spotlight, which is also part of XP MCE. It just fucking sucks. I added a couple of menu items to pull up a full-screen IE with my HA touchscreen pages, including weather. It’s kind of clumsy, but seems to work ok. My TV Tuner also has a builtin FM Tuner, but for the life of me haven’t found anything that I am currently using that will allow it’s usage. Not that I have looked that hard. Guess I need to. There might be a winamp plugin just for that.