Macroeconomics and Microeconomics - Fair Taxes Essay

Macroeconomics and Microeconomics - Fair Taxes - Essay Example The people of US are fully aware of the deductions made in the name of federal government taxes; they are now facing a new & unique kind of tax, which is being sponsored by 21 members from the house. This unique & novel specie of tax was proposed in the house of Republic of Georgia by John Linder & Rob Woodall by the name of FairTax Act of 2003, which states that the Americans are gifted with a single â€Å"national retail sales tax† in place of all other federal government taxes which include income taxes, capital gains taxes, death taxes, payroll taxes like social security & Medicare taxes etc. This sales tax comes with an amount of 23% of the original cost on all products in their final sale. Thus every American has to pay a 23% more of the original cost of any product in which way they simply get rid of every other sort of tax (FairTax official website 2011). Every American has his/her own reservations & concerns against this bill. None of them is very sure that this act i s actually going to change their lives in terms of betterment or not. They are under the concept of a single but huge kind of tax which is going to cover the rest of all other taxes. On the other hand, Rep. John Linder named it FairTax as according to him, other federally administered taxes were not fairly distributed among the high earners & low earners, while FairTax emphasizes that the more one spends, the more he/she pay the tax (the more one spends the more he/she has to pay in terms of taxation). Hence he made his point clear that high earners will surely spend more as compared to low earners, so the imposed tax will become â€Å"Fair† corresponding to everyone. According to a survey in the year 2009, 43% Americans are in favor of this bill, while 38% of them wanted to settle for the ongoing taxes. Hence overall less than a half population is in favor of the bill which clearly indicates its low level of appreciation & acceptance among the general public. (Boortz & Linde r. 2005). However, for this bill to become a permanent act in US constitution, it has to go a long way. It must be passed by the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, both the House and the Senate and then finally signed by the President. In the year 2005, an advisor committee made by President George W. Bush indicated severe concerns regarding this bill. The most important issue was that the federally administered funds like retirement funds or gratuities etc have to be paid from the revenue gained by FairTax, which is very difficult to administer. Many critics also say that this bill would have harmful effects on the economy of the country as the revenue collected by it would be very less than currently enforced taxes, thus the government will either have to reduce its own expenses or else would face a great deficit in budget. Since the investments like exports, business transactions, savings or education tuition expenses would not be taxed as they are not considered to be a fin al consumption; there will be a huge setback for the economy. Hence many economists & advisory & advocacy groups strongly disagree with the idea of implementing FairTax bill as a revenue-neutral act for the government. (Hoagland. 2010). On the other hand, there are economists who are in a great support of this bill as according to them; it will boost US economy in the coming years. By doing some calculations with the rate of FairTax, The Beacon Hill Institute estimated that

Martha Stewart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Martha Stewart - Essay Example She was the CEO of her own multi-million dollar empire who was now facing felony time at Alderson Federal Penitentiary for what amounted to pocket change for Ms. Stewart. How could things have gone so wrong for Martha? Could her attorneys have done something to present a more strategic defense for her case in an effort to minimize her sentence? Martha's case was a classic white-collar crime, and her troubles began shortly after selling ImClone stock based on insider information, a crime known as insider trading. She was contacted by the FBI and US Attorneys in January 2002 and scheduled an interview with them for the first week in February This was the first of several legal errors made in Martha's case. Martha, absent an attorney, ended up lying to the investigators during her initial interview A good defense would have been to exercise her right to remain silent. (Bennett, 2006). Defense attorneys familiar with white-collar crime all generally agree that cooperating with the authorities is not a good thing. The most common legal advice is, "not to give statements or otherwise cooperate with investigators until you’ve talked with an attorney" (Bennett, 2006). The most common defenses against financial crime are insanity, intoxication, incapacity, and duress. Most of her contemporary white-collar criminals say simply they were out of the loop and just did not know. This is known as the "Absence of Intent" defense which Enron, WorldCom, and others have popularized in the recent months. Entrapment is another common defense used in white-collar cases. The defendant claims they could not have committed the crime without the aid of the investigators. This defense is most often used after lengthy undercover investigations and would not have been usable in Stewart's case. Martha's initial error of lying without legal counsel was compounded by her attorney's failure to reach a plea agreement and allowing the case to go to trial. As many as 87% of federal fraud cases are settled with plea agreements and there is a sound legal reason for it. Sentencing can be negotiated during a plea agreement, but a judge is under strict restrictions and has to conform to federal guidelines when imposing punishment after a guilty verdict in a trial (France, 2004). The issue of Martha not testifying in her own behalf has also been criticized, though when a defendant takes the stand in a white collar case the defense runs the risk of the jury forgetting that the government has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt (France, 2004). The jury found Ms. Stewart guilty of lying to investigators and she received a sentence of 5 months in prison and 5 months on home detention. This was at the minimum end of the federal guidelines and below the national average of 15.7 month s prison time (US Sentencing Commission, 2003). The simple sale of a stock for what amounted to a few dollars drastically altered Martha's world. In a statement shortly after her release she commented, "The experience of the last five months ... has been life altering and life affirming" (Porteus, 2005). However, the damage that the trial did to Martha's image will be long lasting and costly. As a convicted felon, there will be restrictions placed on her ability to operate in certain financial positions. She has been denied entry into Canada and the conviction has scarred her status as a product spokesperson. The price of Martha Stewart stock took an initial beating and after 4 years has just returned to the level it was before the indictment. With the incident behind her, Martha has moved on with some new television programming, a successful talk and domestic show, and "Living". It just goes to prove that it's hard to keep a good thing down.