The following is a press release from Representative John Linder, and published at the FairTax.org web site. With each new Congress, the FairTax bill must be reintroduced. Please make sure you let your Senators and Representative know of your support for the FairTax.

Washington, D.C. – Today, Representative John Linder (R-GA) introduced H.R. 25, the  FairTax Act of 2007. This bill was first introduced by Congressman Linder in 1999, and has become increasingly popular since that time. At the close of the 109th Congress the FairTax Act was the most popular tax reform bill in Congress with 59 supporters in the House, which far exceeded any other piece of tax reform legislation.

The progress we have made since first introducing the FairTax is simply amazing. The grassroots growth has been phenomenal and it is evident that Americans get it. They are way ahead of the politicians on this one. In the 109th Congress, we had 59 supporters on the bill, and we did not solicit a single one. They came to my office because their constituents demanded it. That is happening all over the country.

This bi-partisan legislation, with Congressman Dan Boren (D-OK) as an original co-sponsor, will repeal all corporate and individual income taxes, payroll taxes, self-employment taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes and gift taxes and replace them with a revenue-neutral personal consumption tax. The revenue neutral number advocated in the bill is 23%, which is very near to the average 22% embedded cost of the current system in every good purchased today. This embedded cost will be driven out of the price of goods because the FairTax will also eliminate all business-to-business taxes.

Americans realize that we can achieve a voluntary tax system by allowing everyone to pay taxes when they choose and how much they choose by how they choose to spend. We are giving Americans an option of paying 23 cents of every dollar they spend with the freedom of anonymity, or paying 33 cents of every dollar they earn and the fear that the IRS will come knocking because of some unintentional mistake. They get it, and they are coming in droves to support change.

The FairTax achieves voluntary taxation by providing a pre-bate to all Americans that offsets the tax consequences of spending up to the poverty level. This aspect of the bill makes it the most progressive tax proposal today. In essence, if a family of four does not exceed the poverty level spending which is established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, then, with the pre-bate, they will pay no federal taxes for that year.

Big ideas take a long time to achieve in Washington D.C., and I am excited with the progress we have made in such a short period of time. There are certain economic forces that are pushing us toward the FairTax. If we are going to continue to compete in a global economy, then we will have to move towards a system that removes the foot of the IRS from the throat of our economy.

Congressman Linder added that he has a new grassroots oriented website, linderfairtax.house.gov that contains answers to any FairTax related questions.
Of course, you may also find the latest and most definitive information about the FairTax right here at FairTax.org.
 

by Debbie of Right Truth

John Edwards is running for president of the United States on his same old theme, ‘two Americas‘. He hopes to get votes by pitting the ‘haves’ against the ‘have nots’. He even chose New Orleans to make his announcement, with the unspoken message that the government failed the poor people and he has stepped in to be their savior.

Edwards is promising universal health care, pulling out of Iraq ,taxing oil company profits and eliminating President Bush’s tax cuts to pay for his priorities. Edwards is not alone in his thinking about the evil rich (of which he happens to BE ONE). Yesterday Thomas Sowell had a wonderful article that relates to this, titled ‘A Dangerous Obsession’.

Mr. Sowell picked up on the media, the left, and academia’s continuous obsession with gaps and disparities in income. ‘As one talk-show host put it, It makes no sense that a corporate executive makes over $50 million a year.’ Sowell says, “Ninety-nine percent of all the things that happen in this world make no sense to any given individual.”

If you cannot understand something as simple as making a lead pencil, why should you be surprised that you don’t understand why someone is making a lot more money than somebody else?

Moreover, if this obsession with income disparities is to be something more than mere hand-wringing or gnashing of teeth, obviously the point is that somebody ought to do something to change what you don’t understand.

That’s what the left, liberals, and Edwards wants to do. They want to correct what they perceive as something wrong, …some people having more money than others. And how would one go about correcting such an atrocity? That’s easy. Take away the excess from one, and give it to another. Or as Mr. Sowell puts it, “Usually that means that the government politicians should impose policies based on your ignorance of what is going on.”

Of course, such political control of incomes is usually advocated only to deal with “the rich. But, when income taxes were imposed in the early 20th century, they applied only to the rich and they took a very small percentage of their income.

Once the floodgates are opened to this kind of political power, however, we have seen with the income taxes that they not only spread far beyond the rich, they took a serious share of even middle class incomes.

Moreover, the income tax has spawned an intrusive bureaucracy, creating so much complexity and red tape that millions of ordinary citizens have to go get some accountant to fill out the forms for them and then sign under penalty of perjury that it was done right.

If you knew how to do it right, you wouldn’t have to go to somebody else to have it done, would you? …

It is also worth noting that the people who are said to be earning obscene amounts of money are usually corporate executives. There is no such outrage whipped up when Hollywood movie stars make some multiple of what most corporate executives make.

In short, Mr. Sowell is asking, “Whose wealth is it anyway?” Did the government earn this wealth? No, they didn’t. Why should they be the ones to decide who is worthy to spend that wealth? Did the government produce any product, any widgets, any business that will employ others? Unless you count the bureaucracies needed to collect and redistribute this wealth, the answer is no.

In reading Mr. Sowell’s article, I thought directly of the United States, but Tom at Libertarian Leanings looks at this from a world view.

Israel has nowhere near the natural resources of the Arab states, yet they are wealthier by far. According to the CIA World Factbook, Israel produces a measely 2740 barrels of oil per day. At the same time Saudi Arabia puts out 9,475,000, and Iran 3,979,000. Yet Israel enjoys a per capita GDP of $25,000, while Saudi Arabia and Iran come in at $13,100 and $8,400 respectively. The income gap is not a crisis in Israel because Israelis have the freedom to produce wealth. Arab state citizens have less freedom, less wealth, and less hope for getting it.

Unfortunately, leftists (and Democrats) can’t bring themselves to support the spread of freedom. Their antidote to the growing gap between the rich and the poor is to prevent the creation of wealth. Taxation discourages an activity, so the lefty solution to their contrived crisis is to tax wealth (income) at ever higher rates as a person demonstrates ever higher success in creating it. The Arab solution is to wipe Israel off the map. Actually, there are Democrats who seem to be coming around to that view.

This brings me back to the United States, to the Fair Tax, which would replace the federal income tax system with a progressive national retail sales tax. It provides a “prebate” to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue replacement and, through companion legislation, repeal of the 16th Amendment.

This nonpartisan legislation (HR 25/S 25) abolishes all federal personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes and replaces them all with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax  collected by existing state sales tax authorities.

The FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend, not on what we earn. It does not raise any more or less revenue; it is designed to be revenue neutral. (more)

Why should people be punished because they took the risks to build a business, to produce a product, to creat a new widget? Why should they be punished by having the government take away a large portion of their profits, profits that could be used to produce MORE jobs, more widgets, more wealth? Why should the creators of wealth, who give much of that wealth away to worthy and needy organizations, be punished? They shouldn’t.

On the world scene, Brad leaves a comment at Thought Streaming  
“One can never force a productive, ambitious, disciplined spirit to subsidize weak mindsets girded by overactive libidos, they will always rebel,…”. Graeme also leaves a comment, ” …if you give people a “voice” at work, they will produce more. They have incentive to work.”

If you let people produce wealth, reinvest wealth, and use it as they see fit without government intrusion, you will actually see more help being given to those in need; more opportunities for those in need of better jobs, higher salaries, more education. Don’t punish people for using the gifts and opportunities God gave them.

That my dear friends is what folks like Edwards (and Hillary Clinton) want to do.

I came across this article several weeks ago from one of my favorite columnists. Professor Williams has a very succinct way of conveying complicated topics and themes. If you are not a regular reader of his, you should at least check out his regular column at Townhall.

In this piece, Professor Williams tackles the Fair Tax, and as we would hope he describes some of the highlights and benefits that would be reaped upon its passage.

If enacted, the Fair Tax would eliminate: the federal individual income tax, alternative minimum tax, corporate and business taxes, capital gains tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and estate and gift taxes. These taxes would be replaced by a 23 percent sales tax on all goods and services sold at the retail level. The Fair Tax would be revenue-neutral in the sense that it would replace the revenue from current federal taxes; thus, it would change the way government is funded. Our current tax code is an abomination, and we desperately need that change. The time Americans spend simply complying with our tax code comes to 5.8 billion hours of record-keeping, filing taxes, consulting, legal and accounting services. Breaking those hours down to a 40-hour work week, it translates into a workforce of 2.77 million people. That’s more than the workforce of our auto, aircraft, computer and steel manufacturing industries combined.

The Fair Tax has much to recommend in its favor, such as being a more efficient form of taxation. It would go a long way toward protecting our privacy and preventing Congress from using the tax code to micromanage our lives. The Fair Tax is an excellent idea, but only under three conditions: first, the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment that created the income tax; second, a provision fixing the tax at, say, 23 percent; and third, a constitutional amendment mandating that a tax increase requires a three-fourths vote of Congress. Notwithstanding any provisions within the Fair Tax, if the Sixteenth Amendment weren’t repealed, down the road we’d find ourselves with a national sales tax and an income tax.

But, what I found to be the most interesting is the Professor William’s take on the prospects of the passage of the Fair tax. Seeing it as a tremendous obstacle, Professor Williams is quite pessimistic in outlook. While we here at the Fair Tax Blogburst respectfully disagree with this synopsis, his underlying rationale for the difficulty of passage of the Fair tax cannot be ignored.

You say, “Williams, it sounds as if you don’t trust Congress.” I don’t trust Congress any farther than I can toss an elephant. During the debate prior to ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, congressmen said that only the rich would ever pay income taxes. In 1917, only one-half of one percent of income earners paid income taxes. Those earning $250,000 a year in today’s dollars paid one percent, and those earning $6 million in today’s dollars paid 7 percent. The lie that only the rich would ever pay income taxes was simply propaganda to dupe Americans into ratifying the Sixteenth Amendment.

Here’s my prediction: The Fair Tax will never become law. The two most powerful congressional committees are the House Ways and Means and the Senate Finance committees. These committees write tax law, and as such they are able to confer tax privileges on some Americans at the expense of other Americans. The Fair Tax would reduce or eliminate this form of congressional privilege-granting power and, subsequently, campaign contributions from the beneficiaries would dwindle.

The method used to finance the federal government is very important, but I’ve always argued that government spending is the true measure of its impact on our lives. If there were a Fair Tax, what’s to stop Congress from deficit spending or inflating the currency? Deficit spending and inflation are simply alternative forms, albeit less obvious, of taxation.

You say, “What’s Williams’ solution?” My solution is an amendment limiting federal spending to a fixed percentage, say, 10 percent of the gross domestic product. You say, “Why 10 percent?” If 10 percent is good enough for the Baptist Church, it certainly ought to be good enough for Congress.

The question we must ask is “What makes Williams think that this will pass any easier than the FairTax?” The outcome is doubtful for the exact same reasons that Williams argues would doom the FairTax — the committees which decide where certain monies are spent can also confer privileges on some Americans at the expense of other Americans. Limiting spending to 10% would eliminate much of the congressional privilege-granting power, and corresponding campaign contributions.

The one thing that the FairTax has behind it is the power of a grassroots organization. Ultimately, this is still a government of, by, and for the people. It is up to us to see that our representatives perform as we believe they should. It is up to us to insure passage of the FairTax bill. We must take Mr. Williams arguments for the FairTax and spread them as widely as possible, while ignoring his pessimism. Together, we can get this done.

And maybe in the meantime we can also cut spending, thus reducing the amount of tax required for the FairTax. Now isn’t that an idea?

How would you like to keep one hundred percent of everything you earn? That is one hundred percent of your paycheck, your savings interest, your inheritance, your winnings and any money given to you from a benefactor. How much would you like never to have to worry about tax laws, deadlines, audits, penalties and punishments? Imagine a world where April 15 is just another day of the year… won’t that be wonderful?

It will soon come to pass. Some day in the not so distant future we will all benefit from the passage of the FairTax Plan (HR 25/S 25). Once this piece of legislation becomes law the United States will experience an economic escalation that is unprecedented in history. Imagine the cost of living actually moving downward! Envision fuel prices falling and the prices for everyday consumables lowering back down to sixties proportions. How about being able to have mortgage companies actually compete with low prices against each other?

With the FairTax in place we will see incredible job growth. There will be hundreds even thousands of jobs that foreign companies will be bringing back to America. It will be poetic justice when Asian companies start building “call centers” all over the USA. We’ll see Japanese, German, Chinese and even Mexican manufacturers moving into the USA to save huge sums of money while providing Americans with jobs-a-plenty.

Our farmers will actually be able to cultivate their lands knowing full well that their family business will stay in the family and not be sucked dry by the banks. There won’t be any need for tracking thousands of expenses just for tax purposes. When the patriarch passes away his family will be able to keep the farm because there won’t be anymore inheritance taxes. In fact, farming will become highly profitable again.

The FairTax will equally lessen crime and make criminals pay taxes from their illegal income for the first time ever. Because when crooks buy with their ill gotten gains they’ll be paying taxes on their purchases. For the first time ever, illegal aliens will also pay taxes despite their “under the table” cash income. Most of the lobbyists on Capital Hill will have their power brokerage decreased because tax “favors” will no longer be used to garner corporate political clout.

I have just touched the surface on all the inconceivable benefits that are going to be reaped once we make our political leaders realize that we want and need the Fairtax. The United States was always the world’s model for economic prosperity….that was up until the mid to late 1990s. Then somewhere in that decade we fell behind several other nations. With the FairTax enacted, we will once again become the world’s economic trend setter and employment magnet.

This is the first in a series of FairTax articles that I will be writing. In each of the subsequent articles I’ll focus more on informing you with better detail about the FairTax benefits. If you would like to know everything about (HR 25/S 25) in advance then please go to the Americans for Fair Taxation website at www.fairtax.org. There you will find tons of stuff and highly important political information on how we can all persuade our representatives into enacting the FairTax Plan.

I found an interesting blog article that managed to work the FairTax into a post on national security. From “Freedom Is Always the Right Answer”, the post is titled “Defeating China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran in the Cold War of Terror“. The post begins:

China and Russia are allied and using all the tools at their disposal, including supporting North Korea and Iran, and to a lessor extent Venezuela, to defeat us in a new Cold War of Terror. China and Russia have supplied weapons, diplomatic cover, and economic support to these rogue states to drain American resources, our respect in the international community, and generally create chaos. China is stealing our technological secrets through a coordinated program of traditional intelligence and computer infiltration. China and Russia are threatening our satellites. China constantly threatens our ally, Taiwan. We can use the lessons from the first Cold War to figure out how to win this new one.

But aside from National Security, the FairTax is just a good idea. The Kodiak Daily Mirror came out in favor of it because it is grassroots in nature. You know, “We the people” kind of thinking. In “New Tax Act Gives Power to the People“, the Daily Mirror gives its reasons for supporting the FairTax:

A proposed bill, The Fair Tax Act, would change the way our government collects our tax money. It sounds the death toll for the Internal Revenue Service, paycheck withholdings and tax returns. As the replacement, a national sales tax, designed to fund our government at its current rate, would replace our old system. It relieves the burden of an overly complicated tax code as special interests lobby for loopholes.

As stated so eloquently in our Declaration of Independence, we hold the power, not the government or our elected officials. It is time for a real change offered by the Fair Tax Act to encourage economical growth and investment. It is time to do away with the burdensome taxation system that we detest and political officials use to gain votes.

In the mid-1950s, about 33% of all income taxes collected were paid by American corporations. Today that number is down to approximately 10%. From “The FairTax Book” by Boortz and Linder:

Boortz and Linder make the point that if we eliminated all taxes on capital and labor, (which the FairTax does), the United States would become the world’s tax haven.

Succinctly, what has been asserted that I have seen generally resembles something such as this: (http://www.jpfo.org/fairtax.htm)

But, as we shall see, there is yet again another major study that has been conducted that definitively illustrates the merit of the Fair Tax. As has been reported by The Fair Tax Blog (http://www.fairtaxblog.com/20061002/kotlikoff-study-23-fairtax-revenue-neutral/), Boston University Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff’s much-anticipated study of the necessary revenue-neutral rate for the FairTax has been published and released. Terry and I will refrain from reproducing the entire study, but peruse through the abstract below to see just how much the supporters already know!

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