I don’t get folks some times. All you hear anymore is how we don’t want more government… And then the National Retail Federation, which claims to be the world’s largest retail organization, goes and asks for more government.
Let me back up. The NRF has asked President Elect Barack Obama to include a national sales tax holiday in the next stimulus package. They have suggested national sales tax holidays for ten days each (down to picking the actual days) three times in 2009: March, July and October.
I know what you’re thinking: we don’t have a national sales tax. Exactly.
The NRF wants Obama to require states to observe these national sales tax holidays. And wait, it gets better… Then, the federal government will reimburse the states what they will lose because of the proposal. And don’t cry for those states that don’t have any sales tax to begin with: the NRF suggests giving those states the revenue which would approximate a national sales tax reimbursement had they actually had a sales tax.
Incredible.
The NRF claims that the idea could save up to $20 billion dollars or approximately $175 per family.
Except for the bit about taxpayers funding the silly thing to begin with… Where does the NRF think those reimbursement dollars would come from? The Treasury, of course.
To me, this reeks of bad policy – from overstepping the bounds of what should be state sanctioned – to requesting a “reimbursement” from taxpayers for “saving” them money.
But apparently, I’m in the minority. The NRF claims that a 2001 study found that 82% of those surveyed were in favor of a national sales tax holiday.
While I’m scratching my head over the idea, I’d like to hear what you think. Vote in the poll and leave your comments below.
My VERY 1st thought: Fed needs to stay out of individual states’ business. State govs are setup to serve the needs of their own demographic (we all know each state has its OWN personality and some of those may be split ones ;-)) They KNOW (or at least they SHOULD know) their own demos needs, goals, and desires and what it will take to meet them. Don’t go throw a wrench (that might fit one state’s circumstances but not another’s) in their revenue stream and jam up their plans.
Second thought: Why, why, why do some people think shifting the numbers from one sheet to another sheet is actually going to make a REAL difference that won’t COST us somehow at some point in time? Just because it looks good on THIS piece of paper today doesn’t necessarily mean “it’s a good thing” on ANOTHER piece of paper that is tucked deeper in the pile of paper.
Tax free days sound good, generally. A few states do it. This, however, sounds ridiculous.
I’m with you on both points. It’s clearly way beyond the role of the executive branch to be setting state tax policy. And as to the concept that all government spending is (eventually) funded by taxpayers: I know it will never happen, but if the public at large could grasp this fact, so many problems would disappear.
This idea is unconstituional as it has the feds controlling the state laws in areas where they have no rights whatsoever.
But then, so are bailouts.
All of it is a collection of very bad ideas.
Why does this sound like Bush’s failed plan which was that the more we spend the better the economy? Will no one learn that consumerism itself is not the answer to our economic problems?
Wouldn’t people just not spend until the holiday, then go out find the stores full and decide they don’t need whatever that bad. Might have the opposite effect.
When I first heard this I kept thinking, “What? How?” I knew we had no national sales tax so I figured that they wanted Obama to force the states to forgo their sales tax. Stupid! We don’t pay sales tax for a few days, but we’ll end up paying higher state taxes for years to make it up.
I’m a liberal Democrat and even *I* think that this idea is bad. Why complicate things more?
Putting aside the Federal government interfering in the State government. Let’s look at how it would affect the Businesses that actually collect and had it over to the States. How would the business get their software updated prior to the ‘Holiday’ so they don’t collected and then what if they did, would the government fine the business for collecting it. It would be a mess.
Smaller government, requiring less taxation on the US citizen would be the BEST solution by far.
Of course this would make my job as a CPA more valuable, but I would rather be out of a job than to create more mess.
I still find just not spending any money at all is the best way to “save” money.
OTOH, if I could buy my new car I’ve been needing after 12 years of driving my Toyota (that still gets 33mpg thank you very much) and the rest of you would chip in for the taxes, I personally wouldn’t mind it.
Selfish reasons to game the system aside, this is a stupid idea. But you’re never going to succeed at explaining basic economics to most people. That old saying, “common sense isn’t so common” is so sadly true. I played poker with someone who never did grasp that buying $50 worth of chips just before we all folded for the evening doesn’t make you a “winner” because you had $40 more than the rest of us who went home with $5 apiece. although, that WAS the dotcom definition of “Profit”, so what the heck.
Heck, 20+ years ago I was teaching assistant for a graduate class in Logic, and it was a real eye opener. These folks were supposedly pretty smart to have passed the GRE’s, and yet 3/4 of them couldn’t grasp basic predicate logic. Then again, it was before the logic section was mandatory, so maybe nowadays they wouldn’t have made the cut.
OBAMA overstep his boundaries as President?
Why isn’t he doing that already ?