An examination of the fair tax proposal in the USA and Millennials' perspectives

Abstract

A major public policy in most countries is the national tax system, often heavily debated. A citizen's moral responsibility to pay taxes was well established in the First Century AD with Jesus' famous statement: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's”. Thus, while a citizen's duty is clear, there are still questions about the way taxes are designed and administered. In the USA, many citizens complain that taxes are overly complicated, burdensome and unfair. A potential replacement to the current federal tax system is the consumption-based 'FairTax'. This study examines millennials' perspectives regarding income-based and consumption-based tax systems, thereby ascertaining the level of openness to switch from the current income-based system to the FairTax, a consumption-based system. Findings have ramifications for all countries, if they are considering switching all or part of an income-based system to a consumption-based system.