Posted on 10/18/2005 4:43:30 PM PDT by esarlls3
10/18/2005 3:50:00 PM
Contact: Tom Wright, 800-FAIRTAX, Leo Linbeck, 713-966-5846, or Ken Hoagland, 713-667-3331, all of FairTax.org
HOUSTON, Oct. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Americans for Fair Taxation today blasted the Presidential Panel tasked with proposing fundamental changes to the tax system as engaging in, "Fraudulent political theater designed to protect the corrupt tax code and those who profit from its manipulation," said Leo Linbeck, chairman of the national grassroots organization. "When a Presidential Panel engages in such activities it does a great disservice to the American people."
"Far from making suggestions for fundamental reform, this Panel has actually suggested making the code more complex, more intrusive and more harmful to the economy and the well being of American citizens," said Linbeck.
"The Panel has thrown up a smokescreen with a fake consumption tax program, continued tinkering with the code at the cost of health care benefits for American workers and recommended a scheme to punish homeowners in high cost areas of the nation in an attempt to solve the problems created by another lobbyist driven reform which gave us the Alternative Minimum Tax. In addition, the Panel wants to enlist credit card companies to monitor spending of Americans and report their findings to the IRS," said Linbeck.
"The fact that the main proposals to emerge are limits on health insurance and mortgage interest deductions is nothing more than the usual Washington mindset of how to more efficiently shear the taxpaying sheep," said Linbeck. "We can only hope that media representatives will take a closer look at the profit and political motives that lead some on this Panel to protect the lobbyist-driven federal tax code."
"We must have hit a nerve with our growing grassroots demand for a national retail sales tax because the panel ignored our multi-million dollar research effort defining the proposed plan and instead invented their own phony and flawed national sales tax program and then found it wanting. The Panel went to great lengths to conceal the substance of the FairTax proposal," said Linbeck. "The FairTax deserves a fair hearing. Instead, the Panel was driven by the very Washington insiders and tax lobbyists who now profit so handsomely through manipulation of the tax code to distort our thoroughly researched proposal. "
"While every American knows perfectly well that well-heeled lobbyists are manipulating the federal tax code for profit, this Panel somehow ignored that reality and substituted politics-as- usual for strong action. In the process they employed limited findings and dishonest analyses and let down the American people, as well as President Bush," said Linbeck.
"It is painfully obvious that Washington, D.C. insiders so closely linked with the status quo cannot be trusted to overturn the corrupt system of federal taxation. This effort will have to be driven by the American people," said Linbeck.
What is the FairTax plan?
The FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a rebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar revenue neutrality, and the repeal of the 16th Amendment. This non-partisan 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. So it is also cost neutral -- the final cost for goods and services changes little under the FairTax. The FairTax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system.
What is Americans For Fair Taxation (FairTax.org)?
FairTax.org is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to replacing the current tax system. The organization has hundreds of thousands of members and volunteers nationwide. Its plan supports sound economic research, education of citizens and community leaders, and grassroots mobilization efforts. For more information visit the web page:
http://www.fairtax.org or call 1-800-FAIRTAX.
There is one answer which satisfies the demands of the Republican and Democrat leaders: The FairTax. HR 25, S 25.
Even more amazing is the Panel's apparent ignorance of the vast support of the FairTax by taxpayers submitting comments to the Panel.
If the Panel won't listen to President Bush, the Democtat leadership, or taxpayers, we can only assume that they are pawns of those who build their fortunes on the backs of the taxpayers. This is a betrayal of trust and a total waste of valuable federal resources.
FYI
If anyone would like to be added to this ping list let me know.
John Linder in the House(HR25) & Saxby Chambliss Senate(S25) offer a comprehensive bill to kill all income and SS/Medicare payroll taxes outright and replace them with with a national retail sales tax administered by the states.
H.R.25,S.25
A bill to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national retail sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.Refer for additional information:
Fair Tax Bump!
Tax Panel - Focus Group - All Useless Self Important Boobs
Why didn't he fight for tax reform at the onset of his first term?
Sure looks like a tax increase to me when they take away my deductions for paid interest and R/E taxes.
Doesn't it sound like "read my lips"?
Don't assume that the Tax Commission is doing what the President wants. In fact, what the commission presently is saying violates the basic rules the president told them to follow. Maybe the Treasury Department helped get the commissin off track, but I doubt it was the president.
Maybe the President can get them back on track - or at least straighten out tax reform.
Leo Linbeck's comments are right on the money, though.
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