Warped world view

I don't know what else to call it. I was recently chatting with an acquaintance who has become an ardent teabagger. He was rhapsodizing on the merits of the so-called 'Fair Tax."

You likely have heard some version of this movement. It calls for the elimination of all taxes across the board. The only tax will be a 20 to 25% levy on first time purchases. Tax would, in theory, be paid one time on anything by the end purchaser. I have no understanding of how, or if third-party purchasers or manufacturers would be taxed. There would be no tax for example on used cars. It was paid when the car was purchased new. No income tax, property taxes, capital gains, etc. This is touted as 'fair' because everyone pays it for goods consumed. No mention is made of how to tax corporations or wealthy individuals who do not spend but a fraction of what they earn annually. Or how to stop them from buying their yachts in other countries.

But I digress.

The point to this post is a recurring theme that I hear among these folks. They are way less concerned with the wealthy paying their fair share of the tax burden, than they are that...wait for it...prostitutes and drug dealers are getting away without paying any income tax!

Yeah, you read that right. It's of minor concern to them that GE or the Koch brothers are getting away with tax evasion, but it's infuriating that "Welfare Queens" might be getting a free suckling at the public tit. They would willingly see old ladies reduced to eating cat food, or kids going to underfunded schools, if it meant that some drug dealer was forced to pay his "Fair Tax" on the Mercedes he buys with his ill-gotten gains. Or that some pimp had to shell out 20+% on the price of his new Caddy. Never mind that he or she could avoid the whole thing by just buying a used one.

I swear, I wonder about the future of this country that there are so many that can't get past the absurdity of this plan.