As I watch the politicians battle it out for the 2008 Presidential election I will give far more attention to the candidate that speaks about the FairTax, and I will completely tune out any of those that simply want th leave the tax structure as it is today or, even worse, imply that they will raise taxes.
The FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality, and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the 16th Amendment.
The FairTax Act (HR 25, S 1025) is nonpartisan legislation. It abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities.
The FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend on new goods or services, not on what we earn. The FairTax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system.
The FairTax:
- Abolishes the IRS
- Closes all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
- Ensures Social Security and Medicare funding
- Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
- Allows American products to compete fairly
- Reimburses the tax on purchases of basic necessities
- Enables retirees to keep their entire pension
- Enables workers to keep their entire paycheck
The FairTax proposal is a comprehensive plan to replace federal income and payroll taxes, including personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security/Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes. The FairTax proposal integrates such features as a progressive national retail sales tax, dollar-for-dollar revenue replacement, and a rebate to ensure that no American pays such federal taxes up to the poverty level. Included in the FairTax Plan is the repeal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. The FairTax allows Americans to keep 100 percent of their paychecks (minus any state income taxes), ends corporate taxes and compliance costs hidden in the retail cost of goods and services, and fully funds the federal government while fulfilling the promise of Social Security and Medicare.
The FairTax is real tax reform. The FairTax is genuine reform. The FairTax is fair and honest reform. Anything else being mentioned is not real, is not genuine, and is not fair and honest.
My gentle bride and I are both big fans of the FairTax … and we will vote for the candidate that best wants to at least consider supporting it.
tax, HR 25, S 1025, FairTax, IRS
4 responses so far ↓
1 trav // Sep 4, 2007 at 8:51 am
Instead of Lukewarm Fred, better take a look at Mike Huckabee who’s front and center with the FairTax. Just do a search at Youtube for “huckabee fairtax.”
Besides the obvious, Huckabee’s handled an executive position where Fred’s just been one of the boys in the Senate club.
Go Mike. Go FairTax.
2 Bruce // Sep 5, 2007 at 9:02 am
The Fair Tax will never make it though Congress, on account of it’s being, um, fair.
3 MuzzleBlast // Sep 5, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Call it what you will, it still does nothing to rein in out-of-control government and their out-of-control spending … worse, it will likely encourage it. I’m with Ron Paul …
4 Ian // Sep 6, 2007 at 2:38 am
Huckabee is an adroit public speaker. He communicates his message in life-like, cogent terms, with compelling examples like the story he told (at the Ames Straw Poll) of what his then-11-yo daughter entered into the “Comments” section of a Visitors Book after visiting the Yad Vashem holocaust museum: Why didn’t somebody do something?
Very effective. Huckabee is all about calling his listeners to do something, to awaken them to their own empowerment, and summon them to action in order that Main Street, and not Wall Street, will prevail in guarding the values and beliefs upon which the Republic was founded.
Huckabee puts his listeners at ease, and reassures them, articulating clear concepts in a natural, easy style (no doubt something well-cultivated as a pastor). He’s not angry or demanding, like a Ron Paul, nor is he as rigidly-scripted as Romney, and his large brown eyes peer through a humble demeanor, drawing a striking contrast to a somewhat mechanical-squinty Brownback. One can easily imagine sitting comfortably with this man over a cup of coffee at the Main Street Cafe.
Most importantly, perhaps, Huckabee convinces many that he is ONE with the FairTax grassroots movement. While many – like Romney, and others, who are invested in the current income tax system – seek to demagog the well-researched FairTax plan, its acceptance in the professional / academic community continues to grow. Renown economist Laurence Kotlikoff believes that failure to enact the FairTax – choosing instead to try to flatten what he deems to be a non-flattenable income tax system – will eventuate into an irrevocable economic meltdown because of the hidden aspects of the current system that make political accountability impossible.
Romney’s recent WEAK response to FairTax questioning on This Week with Geo. Stephanopoulos drew a sharper contrast between Huckabee and all other presidential front-runners who will not embrace it. Huckabee understands that what’s wrong with the income tax can’t be fixed with a tap of the hammer, nor a twist of the screwdriver. That his opponents cling to the destructive Tax Code, the IRS, preserving political power of granting tax favors at continued cost to – and misery of – American families, invigorates his campaign’s raison d’etre.
Of the FairTax, Huckabee asserts that it’s…
• SIMPLE, easy to understand
• EFFICIENT, inexpensive to comply with and doesn’t cause less-than-optimal business decisions for tax minimization purposes
• FAIR, FLAT, and FAMILY FRIENDLY, loophole-free, and everyone pays their share
• LOW TAX RATE is achieved by broad base with no exclusions
• PREDICTABLE, doesn’t change, so financial planning is possible
• UNINTRUSIVE, doesn’t intrude into our personal affairs or limit our liberty
• VISIBLE, not hidden from the public in tax-inflated prices or otherwise
• PRODUCTIVE, rewards – rather than penalizes – work and productivity
A detailed benefits analysis of the plan (from The FairTax Book) explains Huckabee’s ardent advocacy:
FOR INDIVIDUALS:
• No more tax on income – make as much as you wish
• You receive your full paycheck – no more deductions
• You pay the tax when you buy at retail – not used
• No more double taxation (e.g. like on current Capital Gains)
• Reduction of pre-FairTaxed retail prices by 20%-30%
• Adding back 29.9% FairTax maintains current price levels
• FairTax would constitute 23% portion of new prices
• Every household receives a monthly check, or pre-bate
• Prebate is advance payback for monthly consumption to poverty level
• FairTax’s prebate ensures progressivity, poverty protection
• Finally, citizens are knowledgeable of what their tax IS
• Elimination of parasitic Income Tax industry
• NO MORE IRS. NO MORE FILING OF TAX RETURNS by individuals
• Those possessing illicit forms of income will ALSO pay the FairTax
• Households have more disposable income to purchase goods
• Savings is bolstered with reduction of interest rates
FOR BUSINESSES:
• Corporate income and payroll taxes revoked under FairTax
• Business compensated for collecting tax at cash register
• No more tax-related lawyers, lobbyists on company payrolls
• No more embedded (hidden) income/payroll taxes in prices
• Reduced costs. Competition – not tax policy – drives prices
• Off-shore tax haven headquarters can now return to U.S
• No more favors from politicians at expense of taxpayers
• Resources go to R&D and study of competition – not taxes
• Marketplace distortions eliminated for fair competition
• US exports increase their share of foreign markets
FOR THE COUNTRY:
• 7% – 13% economic growth projected in the first year of the FairTax
• Jobs return to the U.S.
• Foreign corporations set up shop in the U.S.
• Tax system trends are corrected to enlarge the pie
• Larger economic pie, means thinner tax rate slices
• Initial 23% portion of price is pressured downward as pie increases
• No more closed-door tax deals by politicians and business at our expense
• FairTax sets new global standard. Other countries will follow
While passionately supporting FairTax, Huckabee understands that, if elected President, Congress will have to present the bill for his signature. His call to action goes beyond his candidacy, Main Street will have to demand that their legislators deliver the bill.