Free Republic

If people had known how close we came to World War III that day there would have been mass panic. That is how a very senior British ministerial source recently characterized Israel’s September raid on what was apparently a Syrian nuclear installation. Whether matters were quite that grave is an open question. Yet it does seem clear that the full story of the Israeli raid has not been told, nor its full significance recognized. Now two key members of Congress have raised an alarm about this event, thereby throwing our nuclear agreement with North Korea into question. Briefings Peter Hoekstra...

U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama suggested Friday that the United States one day might have to launch surgical missile strikes into Iran and Pakistan to keep extremists from getting control of nuclear bombs. Obama, a Democratic state senator from the Hyde Park neighborhood, made the remarks during a meeting Friday with the Tribune editorial board. Obama's Republican opponent, Alan Keyes, was invited to attend the same session but declined. Iran announced on Tuesday that it has begun converting tons of uranium into gas, a crucial step in making fuel for a nuclear reactor or a nuclear bomb. The International Atomic...

Dear Mr. Linder, I am an avid supporter of the FairTax and have studied the problem quite in-depth over the past year. Americans across the board will benefit from the FairTax National Retail Sales Tax (NRST) -- except for tax lawyers. I often debate the FairTax with friends, both fellow supporters and opponents, and the leading argument against an NRST is the feasibility of enforcing it. Many believe an NRST with such a large tax base cannot be implemented; I tend to disagree. Recently, I have argued that the best way to get the FairTax implemented would be to prove...

In 2000, then-Gov. George W. Bush introduced the idea of letting workers invest some of their Social Security funds into presidential politics. This year, however, he has been less vocal about the issue, largely out of deference to House Republican leaders who worry that reform is a vote loser. Now some congressmen are stepping forward to make it clear that not everyone in the House Republican conference is afraid of the issue. Rep. Paul Ryan (Wisc.) introduced a private-account bill this week. Another one was introduced by Sam Johnson (Tex.), with Reps. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Pat Toomey (Penn.) as...

Linder votes for Tax Simplification and  Relief BillsHouse Republicans Continue to Provide Tax Relief Washington, D.C. (July 22) - Congressman John Linder (R-GA) joined with a majority of his House colleagues yesterday to simplify the tax code. Both tax bills passed the House, largely on party lines.    "The Republican Majority is committed to providing hard working Americans with tax relief," Linder stated. "The passage of these two tax simplification bills will allow our economy to continue to move forward with less complexity."     H.R. 4840, sponsored by Representative Phil Crane (R-IL), helps small business by encouraging investment and simplifying...

This fall the Senate Finance Committee plans to introduce new legislation covering private foundations, donor-advised funds, public charities, and other tax-exempt organizations. As reported in our cover story, Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Finance Committee, held hearings on this subject on June 22, 2004, and released on June 21, a staff-prepared "discussion draft" outlining possible proposals for the forthcoming legislation. The Philanthropy Roundtable believes that a number of proposals in the discussion draft would seriously harm philanthropy, civil society, and the vision of "a nation of citizens, not spectators," articulated by President George W. Bush in his...

Hunt for Nonfilers Turns up Millionaires, Lawyers, CPAs AccountingWEB.com - Jul-19-2004 - In a crackdown on people who have not filed their tax returns, state and federal officials are finding millionaires, medical professionals, lawyers and other heavy hitters. For example, the suspected list of nonfilers in California for 2002 includes 865 millionaires, 6,756 lawyers, 1,458 CPAs and 20,473 medical professionals, the Wall Street Journal reported. Taxpayers who still haven't filed "have some explaining to do," said Steve Westly, the state controller and chairman of the California Franchise Tax Board. Some people don’t file on time due to health problems or family crises....

How to Deregulate Insurance, Tame Malpractice Awards, End Employee-Provided Healthcare, and Desocialize Medicare By Remember_Salamis (My Name Removed) Citizens for a New Contract with America Insurance Deregulation – Nearly every state in the nation has mandated health insurance benefit laws. Mandated health insurance benefit laws require that insurers provide at least a set group of benefits. Many times, these mandates demand that alcoholism be covered, mental health, acupuncture, massage therapy, and possibly even cosmetic surgery in the future (the media’s “obesity epidemic” may prompt states to mandate coverage for liposuction and stomach staples). Most of these mandates are unnecessary, adding...

When it comes to paying taxes, the Democratic mantra is always "soak the rich." Need money for pork? Soak the rich. Running a big deficit? Soak the rich. Just feel like soaking the rich? Soak the rich. Over the years, the philosophy of balancing government budgets on the backs of achievers has been chiseled into local, state and federal tax laws, and is manifest in the many ways Democrats scheme to separate "the rich" from their money. We will concede they're right about one thing: the rich don't pay their "fair share." In Connecticut, the top 10 percent of wage-earners...

I'm a huge FairTax supporter and want the ENTIRE tax system replaced by a 23% NRST. But I've been thinking: What if we first just move payroll taxes into a new NRST, both employee and employer shares (all 15.3%). The Payroll NRST would be anywhere from 6.5% to 8.5% without a rebate. It would be regressive, just like the current payroll tax. I haven't crunched the numbers yet on wher it would fall in that 6.5% - 8.5% range. One of the benefits of doing this is proving that a NRST WORKS and is FEASIBLE. Once we've proven that it...

Dems call for simpler taxes By Hans Nichols House Democrats plan to take the argument for tax simplification to voters this fall, thus venturing into traditional Republican territory. Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will lead the charge, accusing the Republicans of complicating the tax code for individual filers and smalls businesses. Republicans spent 40 months of their rule making the tax code more complicated, asserts Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). The move appears to be a classic “triangulation” tactic, so named by former presidential adviser Dick Morris, in which one party colonizes political territory traditionally occupied by its opposition. Republicans say...

The underground economy Bruce Bartlett (archive) July 13, 2004 Last week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris issued a new report on the underground economy. This is only the latest study showing that a large fraction of employment and production in major countries as well as developing nations is taking place off the books, unrecorded in national accounts and untaxed by governments. According to the report, the underground economy varies from 1.5 percent of gross domestic product in the United Kingdom to almost half in the Kyrgyz Republic. The OECD does not present data for the United...

An important and serious argument is going on in Washington about whether taxes on Americans' incomes should stay where they are or dramatically rise, and whether government spending should continue its accelerating growth. We know what Democrats think. They despise tax cuts and believe government spending should be higher. Washington Republicans, on the other hand, are unsure of themselves. They used to be for lower taxes and smaller government; now they seem to want bigger spending even if it means higher taxes, abandoning Reagan conservatism for '60s liberalism. In other words, this is a battle for the heart of the...

The Most Insidious Tax People don’t generally spend and invest other people’s money as carefully as they do their own. This single, simple fact goes a long way toward explaining why capitalism works and statism doesn’t. Private property, which enables people to spend and invest their own money, is a central feature of capitalism. Indeed, private property is the key feature of capitalism. But property can be eroded subtly. Specifically, people’s money can be quietly shifted from the private sector to the public sector. That constitutes a transfer of resources from profit-seeking investors to vote-seeking politicians. This process weakens capitalism...

<p>We must replace the income tax with a national retail sales tax (NRST), also known as the FairTax. This can be accomplished by passing the Fair Tax Act of 2003, known in the House as HR 25 and in the Senate as S 1493. The FairTax would replace all income and payroll taxes for both individuals and businesses with a tax-inclusive 23% NRST. Only goods and services purchased at the retail level would be taxed, while all goods and services purchased by businesses would not be. Because taxes will only be collected at the sales counter, there will no longer be any capital gains taxes on savings and investment. In order to ensure that we don’t end up with an income tax and a NRST, we must also repeal the 16th Amendment.</p>

How the FairTax Will Renew America By Remember_Salamis (My Name Removed) Citizens for a New Contract with America We must replace the income tax with a national retail sales tax (NRST), also known as the FairTax. This can be accomplished by passing the Fair Tax Act of 2003, known in the House as HR 25 and in the Senate as S 1493. The FairTax would replace all income and payroll taxes for both individuals and businesses with a tax-inclusive 23% NRST. Only goods and services purchased at the retail level would be taxed, while all goods and services purchased by...

The FairTax and Investing We must replace the income tax with a national retail sales tax (NRST), also known as the FairTax. This can be accomplished by passing the Fair Tax Act of 2003, known in the House as HR 25 and in the Senate as S 1493. The FairTax would replace all income and payroll taxes for both individuals and businesses with a tax-inclusive 23% NRST. Only goods and services purchased at the retail level would be taxed, while all goods and services purchased by businesses would not be. Because taxes will only be collected at the sales counter,...

A recent United States Federal Government report produced by its General Accounting Office (GAO) shows that the Cayman Islands is home to subsidiaries of more than 150 US corporations, leading to criticism from officials in that country. Twenty-four of the 100 largest contractors with the US Federal Government, including Altria Group, Oracle and Procter & Gamble, have subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands according to report by the GAO, the US Congress's investigative arm. Those 24 companies received a total of $35 billion from the US government in 2001, the GAO found. "They are shortchanging our country even as they profit...

A CONTRACT WITH GEORGIAA Bold Vision to Bring Conservative Common Sense to the United States Senate by HERMAN CAIN Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate The United States is being challenged by the war on terror, the war on our moral foundation and the war on our economic infrastructure. But America is still the greatest country in the world because of the bold leadership of the past and the American Dream that is still alive today. In 1994 we had a vision for a better America and a desire to "restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected...

How the FairTax Will Renew America By Remember_Salamis (Nicholas G. Bradley) Citizens for a New Contract with America We must replace the income tax with a national retail sales tax (NRST), also known as the FairTax. This can be accomplished by passing the Fair Tax Act of 2003, known in the House as HR 25 and in the Senate as S 1493. The FairTax would replace all income and payroll taxes for both individuals and businesses with a tax-inclusive 23% NRST. Only goods and services purchased at the retail level would be taxed, while all goods and services purchased by...