Free Republic

Republican Rep. John Linder of Georgia won't seek re-election in November's midterm election, a National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman said. Linder made the announcement Saturday during a speech at the Gwinnett County Republican headquarters in his home state, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. "It has been an honor to serve alongside John and his presence in the House will surely be missed," NRCC Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said in a statement. Sessions added, "Above all, his service to the citizens of the Seventh Congressional District of Georgia was unmatched, and I am confident that voters in this ruby-red district will...

LAWRENCEVILLE - U.S. Rep. John Linder, R-Ga., is retiring after nearly 20 years in Congress. Linder made the announcement during a the dedication of the new Gwinnett County Republican Party headquarters. Linder has been in Congress 18 years.

I read a post the other day that a Freeper got from Congressman John Linder, Georgia, stating that he would stand and object to Obama if he doesn't show proof of constitutional eligibility. I emailed Mr. Linder and asked if he did indeed write that email and if he was serious about holding Obama to task on something as serious as this. A few moments ago I received a phone call from Congressman Linder's office confirming that he intends to do exactly that and he is just as intent as us on verifying Obama's eligibility. I told his staffer (very...

Like all the great nations and societies of history the United States is rapidly coming to the end of its existence as a great and powerful country. The shackles of our nearly 70,000 page tax code are making us less and less able to compete in the global economy. Our tax on capital is cutting our businesses off at the knees. Our highest earners have half their income confiscated by the IRS. All of these taxes along with the cost of complying with nearly unfathomable tax regulations put us at a severe disadvantage as competitors in the global economy since...

"Great idea — too bad it's never going to happen." Pretty discouraging words, I would say. In fact, it makes you wonder, "Why even put big ideas out there; what is the point?" Unfortunately, these are the words that I often hear when it comes to talking about my FairTax bill. Ironically, I most often hear them from the folks who follow that comment up with a barrage of questions about the bill and suggestions on how to move the bill along more effectively. It is this phenomenon that strikes me — if it is a great idea, if it...

I was first elected to the Georgia House of Representatives 34 years ago. I have watched this party change for a long time. Some changes have been better than others. Two years after that first election, I went to work on the Reagan campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. I was one of the leaders of that campaign in Georgia, and my friend, Paul Coverdell, led the establishment's efforts to nominate President Ford. It was the typical establishment-versus-interloper campaign. Most of the friends I had made in the party were in the establishment. Most of them thought the nomination of...

A Battlefield for Tax Reform There are a few significant battlefields in the war for tax reform. One of them is Free Republic. What makes the Free Republic battlefield significant is that the debate is at the cutting edge. The debate on Free Republic is the most current and most knowledgeable. It is a year ahead of other significant battlefields (radio talk shows, political town-hall meetings, conversations among neighbors and coworkers.) The trend on Free Republic with respect to tax reform is going to show up in the real world. Free Republic is a tiny segment of the world, albeit...

FAIRTAX BOOK PLUNGES 200% IN THIRD WEEK ON CHART In an unprecedented plunge, the second edition of "The FairTax Book", co-authored by Atlanta radio motor-mouth Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder, plunged 200% (inclusive) in its third week on the NYT Non-fiction paperback bestseller list from #7 to #14, following a precipitous 233% drop last week from #3 to #7. The Boortz book was beaten handily by a book about the fascinating and always popular topic of punctuation. EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES, by Lynne Truss. (Gotham, $11.), which moved ahead of "The FairTax Book", recounts the gripping story of an...

FAIRTAX: A Primer Now that the author of the bill, John Linder, admits in his co-authored book "The FairTax Book" that there in no such thing as "Keep 100% of your paycheck, while prices stay the same", let's examine where that leaves the FairTax: WAGES: It has been made clear by many proponents of the FairTax that they are expecting 100% of their current gross pay, and that many employer/employee wage relationships, including those for government workers are controlled by contract. So, we'll assume every wage earner gets to keep 100% of their current gross pay. Everyone can figure out...

American Constitutional Research Service The Fair Tax: attacks federalism, promotes democracy! It’s absolutely amazing that our Republican Party leaders and many political action groups, when it comes to factual information concerning taxation, “conservatism” and “tax reform“, are suspiciously silent to an important provision of our Constitution which the Founding Fathers agreed upon to provide protection against mob rule vote [democracy], a poison which now works to allow the spending of federal revenue without a proportional obligation in filling our national treasury. Republicans and political action groups who support H.R. 25 and promote it as being “conservative tax reform“ ignore how...

Syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder (R-GA) have joined forces to write a book on the FairTax Plan—a proposal to replace the current system of federal income taxes, corporate taxes, Social Security and Medicare taxes, capital gains taxes, gift taxes, and estate taxes with a national sales tax on new goods and services that does not reduce the government's overall tax revenue. They have never been so right and never been so wrong. Former attorney Boortz is the well-known Atlanta-based "libertarian" talk show host who, like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, spends an inordinate amount of...

A "thanks" from John Linder ...

TAX REFORM COMMISSION? YEAH ... RIGHT. The president's so-called tax reform commission telegraphed its intentions several months ago when members stated that they were not going to recommend a full reform of our federal tax system, rather they were going to recommend some incremental reforms. The The FairTax Book hit the book stores and debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller's list. Politicians and other Beltway denizens told co-author Congressman John Linder that the success of The FairTax Book was a certain indication that the people of this country were in the mood for wholesale reform. Who...

A change in a tax affects that area of the economy . . . and beyond. Taxes hurt whatever is taxed. Income taxes hurt income (production). Sales taxes hurt sales (consumption). Higher rates have higher effects. After having read "The FairTax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS" by Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder, I realized that the 'FairTax' proposed by Boortz and Linder would change EVERYTHING. The 'FairTax' is not tax reform, it is tax upheaval. Since it taxes consumption instead of income, consumption WILL fall, and incomes WILL rise. All of the incentives (and...

August 24, 2005 U.S. Representative John Linder 1026 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: 770-232-3005 Fax: 770-232-2909 Copy: Neal Boortz, WSB Radio, Dr. Dale Jorgenson, Harvard University Dear Representative Linder: I wrote to you two days ago regarding what I consider to be serious misrepresentations of the Fair Tax plan contained in your book, “The FairTax Book”. On page 2, you state “Let’s agree up front that this book is about honesty” and I intend to hold you at your word. Since that time, I have been in contact with Dr. Jorgenson in an attempt to clarify his...

FAIRTAX UPDATE There is no doubt that the story of H.R. 25, the FairTax, has been pushed into the background by the Katrina disaster, and perhaps that is as it should be. When hundreds of thousands of people are suffering as they are in the aftermath of Katrina, that is the story. The FairTax is, however, still on the minds of the political class in Washington DC. Congressman Linder tells me that the Republican leadership is more than impressed with the success of The FairTax Book. They have been receiving a steady stream of phone calls, emails, faxes ... and...

bureau's take on: The Fair Tax Bill, Newt in 2008? More....

Dear Editor, I've just read a new best-seller, which I highly recommend to you and your readers: "The Fair Tax Book, Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS." The co-authors are "reformed lawyer" and syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz, and Congressman John Linder, R-Ga. Linder is also the principal author/sponsor of The Fair Tax Bill (H.R. 25), currently before Congress. In the interest of brevity (the book is only 180 pages, by the way), I'll quote from the back of the dust jacket. "What the Fair Tax will do for America: eliminate the income tax and the...

NEW YORK (Money magazine) - If you don't care much for talk radio, or you don't live in the South, the name Neal Boortz might not ring a bell. But pay attention: Around 4 million people nationwide catch his radio show. It's No. 1 in Boortz's home market of Atlanta and ranks first or second in numerous smaller cities in red states. His 180-page polemic for radical tax reform, The FairTax Book, made its debut at No. 1 on the New York Times' bestseller list in August. When Boortz came to Jacksonville for a book signing at a downtown hotel...

THE FAIRTAX --- STRAIGHTENING OUT SOME CONFUSION When Congressman Linder and I were busy researching and writing The FairTax Book we knew full well that it would one day become the focal point for those opposed to this tax reform idea. We tried, therefore, to make sure that our numbers and claims were correct and consistent with the research that went into the drafting of HR 25. On review, and after reading the critiques of opponents to the FairTax plan, we have concluded that there is one element of the FairTax that could have been present with more clarity in...