Title: An examination of the fair tax proposal in the USA and millennials' perspectives

Authors: Sydney Hoffman; Anita Reed; Ramon P. Rodriguez Jr.; L. Murphy Smith; Wayne Tervo

Addresses: Jones College of Business, Middle Tennessee State University, Business and Aerospace N425, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA ' Department of Accounting, Finance and Business Law, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Dr, Corpus Christi, TX 78412, USA ' Department of Accounting, Idaho State University, 921 S 8th Ave, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA ' Department of Accounting, Finance and Business Law, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi RELLIS Campus, Mail Stop 3477 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-3477, USA ' Department of Accounting, Murray State University, 141 Business Building, Murray, KY 42071, USA

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.

Keywords: public policy; taxation; income tax; FairTax; flat tax; USA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEA.2021.116694

International Journal of Economics and Accounting, 2021 Vol.10 No.3, pp.352 - 377

Received: 31 May 2020
Accepted: 25 Aug 2020
Published online: 29 Jul 2021 *

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