Posted on 01/30/2006 2:31:32 PM PST by groanup
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 30, 2006
Isakson Introduces Legislation to Repeal Tax Code by 2008 Requires Congress to Reauthorize Current Tax Code or Replace It with New System
Flat Tax and National Sales Tax Must Be Considered Among Options
WASHINGTON – Declaring that it's time to give relief to American taxpayers, U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) has introduced legislation to repeal the U.S. tax code by 2008 and to force Congress to vote to reauthorize it or replace it with a new system.
Isakson's bill also creates a commission that would be required to examine and to recommend to Congress plausible replacements for the tax code. A flat tax and a national sales tax must be among the options it examines, under Isakson's legislation.
“The average person spends over 13 hours completing IRS Form 1040, and nearly three in five tax filers have to hire help to complete their taxes,” Isakson said. “The time has come for us to give some relief to the American taxpayer through a complete overhaul of our burdensome, confusing and overly complex tax code.”
The Tax Code Termination Act, S.2182, would terminate the current tax code on December 31, 2008. To ensure a smooth transition to a new system, Congress must approve a new tax code by July 4, 2008. If a new system is not approved by July 4, 2008, Congress would be forced to vote to reauthorize the current tax code.
“History has taught us that if we don’t impose a deadline and terminate the tax code by a date certain, overhauling our inefficient system is nearly impossible,” Isakson said. “All options should be on the table and the only way to fairly consider all of them is to start from scratch.”
To help Congress choose the best replacement system, Isakson's bill creates a commission to analyze reform options and report its findings to Congress. The commission would review the impact of the current tax code on the economy, families and workers; the compliance costs to taxpayers, small business and corporations; and the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to administer the current code.
The commission would be required to consider specifically whether the income tax should be replaced with a flat tax, a national sales tax or another option. The commission also would be required to identify the transition costs associated with any change to the present federal tax code.
The commission would also be required to report on the potential impact of any new system on the U.S. economy and on the government’s ability to collect revenue. Additionally, the potential impact of any new system must be presented and reviewed from both static and dynamic scoring models.
The bill will create a National Commission on Tax Reform within the legislative branch, consisting of 15 members. Two of the members will be required to come from businesses with less than 50 employees. The commission will be appointed by the president, the Senate Majority Leader, the Senate Minority Leader, the Speaker of the House and the Minority Leader in the House.
"I already e-mailed him. He just got my vote for a long time down the road."
FairTaxers have been bombarding his office for weeks now. He used the President's Panel as an excuse to do nothing for months on this issue. Now that that excuse is gone, he needs more political cover and this bill is it.
Have you checked to see how many co-sponsors his bill has?
"It also demands that if they can't come up with a new system they have to VOTE TO RETURN TO THE OLD ONE. LOL! Know anyone in congress who wants to do that?"
Absolutely. Plenty of them, and they will have plenty of cover. "We just couldn't arrive at a consensus, it isn't MY fault."
"Isakson needs to be informed about the Fair Tax."
Oh, he is VERY informed about it. He signed on (in the house)during his senate campaign because he knew he would lose votes if he didn't. When I met with his Tax L/A last April, another Georgia FairTax supporter was in DC and she wanted to go. She had campaigned for Isakson under the mistaken belief that he would support the bill when elected. She was LIVID!!
"What's with you guys? The legislation is out there now. Are you guys just going to pooh pooh it and call Isakson a prick?"
The legislation is going nowhere - he does not have a single co-sponsor. Are you not aware that we just HAD a commission that failed miserably? What do we do if this commission fails similarly - call for another commission?
"I think Isakson has caved in to the pressure of the fair tax and is worried because it has so much support in Georgia and he isn't a co-sponsor."
As others have pointed out, Isakson is under the thumb of some very wealthy real estate investors. I met with Robert LaMutte, who was running for the seat that Johnny vacated, which was ultimately won by Tom Price. He told me that these guys had told him not to support the FairTax for any reason. LaMutte was not as beholden to them as Johnny and he supported it anyway.
This is nothing more than an attempt to delay and placate those who want real tax reform. It is also precisely the position he held three years ago. Isakson supports the FairTax only during political campaigns.
I didn't pay much attention to Isakson after Cain lost. So some of this (not all of it) is news to me. We'll see what happens. I'll make this promise, if he is leading us all down the primrose path I'll be on him like ticks on a deer.
"Okay. But I really don't see the bad side of legislation who's first priority is a date to abolish the IRS and second priority is to force congress to re-authorize the IRS."
You are missing the point which to me is bigger than his position on tax reform. The man lied in order to get votes. In addition to Cain, he was running against Mac Collins, who also was running on the FairTax. He would have been the odd man out if he had been honest and said that he would not co-sponsor the bill.
Something similar happened two years prior in the senate race. Saxby Chambliss had been in the house for years and had never co-sponsored. I had driven to his district to ask him at a town hall meeting about doing so. All he would say is that something had to be done. Then Bob Irvin, a huge underdog in his senate race, started getting traction by promising to co-sponsor the bill if elected. Saxby then decided to co-sponsor the bill in the house and promised to introduce it into the senate if elected. At that time, the FairTax had never been introduced into the senate.
After Saxby was sworn in, he kept his word and sponored the FairTax in the senate. He has been reasonably active in supporting it, which is way more than Johnny has done.
"We need to cling to any scenario that raises the idea of abolishing the IRS."
Several years ago, one of my friends who is a staunch FairTax supporter went to DC and spent several weeks personally hand delivering FairTax information packages to every single house and senate office and getting signatures for each. He had several interesting conversations with staffers and members. One of the things that he learned is that the whole area of tax reform was so fragmented that it was easy for members to evade the issue. No single plan had a significant enough level of support for the members to feel any pressure.
That has changed to some degree, especially in Georgia, and to a lesser extent in surrounding states. The book has taken the FairTax to a whole new level. It is widely held that congress will never willingly give up the power that the current tax system provides them. That, in fact, is one thing that skeptics constantly point out.
This "sunset the code" bill is a transparent attempt to reduce the pressure that Isakson is feeling to support the FairTax. Supporting that approach is acquiescing in providing the kind of "cover" that alleviates the pressure that we have managed to build up over the past several years. As such, it is counterproductive.
He's one of my senators. Kudos!!
"I'll take HR 25 and S 2182. Frankly, you, me and all the rest of us have nothing else. HR 25 languishes with 40 sponsors. Whoop-de-do!"
How many co-sponsors do you think Isakson's bill has?
"I really think that adhering to only the HR 25 and making it the only possible outcome is hurting us here. We need to cling to any scenario that raises the idea of abolishing the IRS."
And my experience is that fragmenting our efforts and helping these guys to find cover is counterproductive. To each his own.
"President Bush did this last year, the commission gave President Bush and the rest of the working people of the U.S. the collective middle finger."
Amen to that. When you look at the commission's interim report and compare it to their final report, it's like a total disconnect. It is obvious that the American people gave them an earful during the preliminary phases. It is just as obvious that the special interests weighed in before the final report and that they carried the day in the end.
I think those on the commission were bribed by leftists to make that final report.
"I don't disagree with any of you that he's a career politcal (real estate salesman) hack."
He is worse than that. He is a professional liar.
bookmark
Is there anyway to publish the testamonies of that commission and so was percentage were against the IRS and for a retail sales tax.
"Someone should mail Rep Johnny Isakson as copy of the Fairtax book."
He has several copies. There was a picture of him on AirForce One with the President behind his desk, Isakson seated in front. The book was on the desk. That picture was on Isakson's website.
"Is there anyway to publish the testamonies of that commission and so was percentage were against the IRS and for a retail sales tax."
I don't know about publishing it, but AFFT has a copy of the whole site before they took it down. I don't know how they plan to use it.
What a coincidence. I was just copied on a letter to Senator Isakson. He has been getting lots of these.
"Dear Senator Isakson,
I voted for you among other reasons because you said you supported the Fair Tax. We just had a Commission that studied the tax situation and it failed to come up with any meaningful proposals, why should we spend more tax dollars on another Commission. ENOUGH ALREADY! It's time to get behind real reform and pass the Fair Tax. Believe it or not your ability to get reelected may very well depend on it. Georgia is one of the strongest Fair Tax states in the United States and we Georgians are going to support those who actually do support the Fair Tax not those who just say they do to get elected and then change their minds.
Sincerely,"
Name Withheld
It was HUGELY in favor of the FairTax. The comments ran something like 75% saying "do the FairTax" esp[ecially in the set of hundreds of comments (Comments #3). I actually read hundreds of them.
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