March 31, 2003
The Honorable John Linder
1727 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Linder:
On behalf of the 335,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I write to offer our endorsement of H.R. 25, the FairTax, and to urge all Members of Congress to join as cosponsors. Should H.R. 25 come before the House for a vote, it will be heavily weighted in our annual Rating of Congress.
America's present Tax Code is extremely punitive and complicated, taking more from taxpayers than ever before. The current Tax Code is clearly not what the nation envisioned when it ratified the 16th Amendment nearly 100 years ago.
Initially, rates were extremely low. In fact, the tax rate on the first $20,000 of income was a mere one percent, while the highest rate was still a fairly reasonable seven percent on all income above $500,000. In 2001 dollars, that would equate to a one percent income tax on all income up to $300,270 while the seven percent rate would apply only to income earned above 7.2 million dollars. In fact, as late as 1939 only five percent of the population was required to file income tax returns.
Today, the federal income tax is extremely "progressive" in the worst possible sense of the word. Dangerously burdensome on both the taxpayer and the economy - and maddening in its complexity - it has become a detriment to America's economy.
While progressive income taxes are inherently unfair and unquestionably slow our economy, the regressive nature of our current payroll taxes certainly hurts those who can least afford to pay them. As you are aware, the poor in America do not pay excessive income taxes, but they do pay excessive payroll taxes.
Because your FairTax would replace both the income and payroll taxes with a simple, fair, 23 percent sales tax with monthly rebates, it would greatly benefit all Americans and our national economy.
As the federal income tax deadline approaches, Americans are vividly reminded that the burden of filing taxes can be nearly as bad as the burden of paying taxes. We salute you for your effort to reform both problems and urge your fellow Members of Congress to join you in this effort by working to pass H.R. 25.
Sincerely,
Paul J. Gessing
Director of Government Affairs
FairTax Facts! Americans For Fair Taxation (AFFT) is a non-partisan organization of grassroots volunteers who are working diligently to get H.R. 25, The Fair Tax Act of 2003 enacted. They currently number some 420,000+ members and are growing daily.
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF!) supports the FairTax. The State Farm Bureaus membership totals over five million members.
Scrap The Tax Code! An excellent FairTax and NRST website!
6. Progressivity of Income Tax Rates
7. Income Tax Withholding
The Tax Man Cometh As Cato Institute President Ed Crane has said, "Taxes are actually the price we pay for our failure to create a civil society."
He’s right. In a genuinely "civil society" where Americans depended more on private institutions, families, charities, and private enterprise to solve society’s problems, and were dependent less on government, we wouldn’t need an IRS that collects $2 trillion in taxes (more than the entire GDP of most countries) each year. We might not need an income tax system at all.
This is useful food for thought as tax filing season is upon us. Today, when combining federal, state and local taxes, many middle-income Americans work as large a share of the day to pay the government’s bills as their own, according to a new report by the Texas-based Institute for Policy Innovation.
It wasn’t always like this. In fact, Justice Holmes can be excused for his enthusiasm for paying taxes because during his lifetime taxes were less than one-third what they are today. In fact, for the first 100 years of the nation, taxes were reasonably non-oppressive. In colonial times opposition to high taxes was deeply ingrained in the American spirit (the Revolutionary War was, after all, the first American tax revolt) and this hostility lasted throughout the 19th Century.
But even more encouraging is the rising tide of voter support for the FAIR Tax. This proposal would replace the entire income tax structure with a national retail sales tax. Rep. Jon Linder (R.-Ga.) is spearheading the crusade for this repeal of the income tax. Linder says that abolition of the income tax and implementation of a national sales tax would create thunderous rates of growth for the economy, which would be liberated from the shackles of high tax rates on work and income.
The FAIR Tax plan would also get the IRS out of our lives and out of our pocketbooks, Linder adds. It would no longer be the government’s business how much money you made.
And perhaps best of all, the FAIR Tax would make April 15th just another warm Spring day again, rather than a day that we approach with dread and trepidation. The average American now spends 15 to 20 hours on tax preparation and half of us wait till the last week to do our taxes. With the Iraq war winding down in victory, here’s hoping that our next major triumph in America is in the war against tax tyranny.
No social security tax - no social security number, no withholding, no information about employees going to the government. Same with medicare. The government does not have the constitutional authority to operate an insurance business anyway, especially a forced insurance program. Social security and medicare should be privatized. No one should be forced into the programs.
The most direct way to make it happen, IMHO, is to continue voting out the worst of the liberals and progressives each election cycle. However, ensuring that the Democrats do not regain control of the White house, the Senate or the Congress, at least not for a generation or two and or until we accomplish a clean sweep of liberal programs. Continue replacing the liberal judiciary with conservatives until we get to the point that the Constitution is actually respected as the Supreme Law of the Land rather than being used as a doormat for the socialists in congress.
Continue cutting government programs and taxes until it's back in line with the Framers intentions. Continue expanding conservative principle and thought into the media and education programs. Make a concerted effort to educate the masses that liberalism/socialism/marxism are complete failures and that American Liberty and freedom is founded on the concept of unalienable individual rights, limited government, equal treatment under the law, etc., etc., etc. Obviously, all of the above is required at all levels of government.
Jim Robinson 01/27/2003
This could be THE Bush legacy.
And there are a lot of details to work out. Do you tax food, used goods, garage sales, barter?
The Federal Government determine's a state's tax liability based on the population of each state.
Each state government raises revenue however (income, property, sales, what-have-you) and sends their percentage on to the Fed.
This is taxation with representation.
That's the only drawback I see to the NRST... I want to see these programs bankrupted & abolished. :)