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Northland Couple Warns of Political Credit Card Fraud NORTH KANSAS CITY, MO. -- A North Kansas City couple has been left scratching their heads after they became the victims of a political scam. Steve and Rachel Larman say a strange credit card charge appeared on their statement this month -- a $2300 donation to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. The Larman's say they don't want this to be about their political affiliation, but they say they're not about to give the Obama campaign any help from their pocketbook. They said they notified Chase, their credit card bank, to report the fraud....

Americans are disenchanted with the federal income tax system. And why not? Only accountants and agents of the Internal Revenue Service understand the 8 million words on the 60,000 pages of the complex Tax Code. Given some of the horror stories over the years about conflicting interpretations from one IRS office to another, even that assumption is suspect. According to an Ipsos Poll, eight out of 10 people recently surveyed think the system is unfair. Indeed, the only clear common ground for agreement between the various income groups in the poll appears to be their unhappiness. And they are echoing...

EDMOND— How much of your time and money did you spend getting your taxes filed this year? Your time is worth something even if you use a software program to do your taxes. Your time is worth something gathering up all the information to give to your hired tax preparer. Multiply that by the number of taxpayers and corporate taxpayers and you can plainly see how much a burden our current tax code is on the taxpayers of America. You can get mad, just like I do each middle of April, but the inevitable has to occur. Did you know...

It already works in two U.S. states — Florida and Texas — that have two of the top 20 economies in the world. South Carolina is one of 46 states in the nation that already have a mechanism in place for collecting a sales tax. McWilliams conceded that 23 percent seems like a lot to pay in federal sales tax. But he said economic studies show that most American families pay more than that into the federal government under the current IRS-monitored system. “The rich will still buy expensive items and be taxed accordingly,” he said, “but the middle class...

There's one thing good about tax deadline day - it reminds Americans of the harsh reality of a tax system that's brainless, expensive and out of control. Taxpayers are sending Washington more than a trillion dollars - $1,000,000,000,000 - this year. Think you're getting your money's worth? Incidentally, that figure doesn't include another $150 billion, which about 60 percent of Americans pay tax-preparers to do their taxes. That's because the 66,000-page federal tax code is beyond comprehension. And guess what Congress' response to this conundrum is? Well, from your friendly key tax-writers on the Senate Finance Committee, Republican Chuck Grassley...

In Congress today is a tax reform bill called “The FairTax.” I want to tell you a little about it and then tell you why it is important for the immigration debate. The FairTax would institute a national retail sales tax and eliminate the personal income tax, the payroll tax, and the taxes hidden in business but paid by the consumer. It replaces all of these taxes with a 23% tax on personal consumption, meaning that out of every dollar spent by consumers, 23 cents will go to the tax man and 77 cents will go to the merchant. This...

For me the top 3 reasons to support the Boortz, Linder, Peterson FairTax proposal (HR 25, SB 25): One-fourth of the money we spend on Federal Income taxes is tax compliance (not the money we remit, just compliance) - This level of waste is intolerable. The FairTax would replace 60,000 pages of tax code with a 133 page bill. Illegal immigrants and criminals would have to pay taxes It would remove the tax subsidy to foreign companies for aquisition of American companies (Think Daimler-Chrysler) how would it do all these things? (more below)

A letter to Senator Shelby, I applaud you for thinking seriously about tax reform. I agree that the current income tax system is hopelessly broken. However, I can't agree that your Flat Tax proposal is the best solution. "Over the years, many have argued that I should support a national sales tax rather than a flat tax." Yes, that is what I suggest as well. "While I support the concept of a national sales tax, I have concerns about implementing such policies without a simultaneous repeal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution." I believe the FairTax takes adaquate precautions...

The FairTax replaces the income tax and all other federal taxes with a national consumption tax. The FairTax is levied only once, at the point of purchase on new goods and services. The group admits it will be difficult for legislators to face down entrenched special interest groups, but they initially proposed replacing the current system with U.S. Senate bill S. 25 and U.S. House of Representatives bill H.R. 25. The next step would be to repeal the 16th Amendment to the constitution allowing the Federal government to levy an income tax. Signatories to the original petition include noted academic...

of good news is that support is growing for complete replacement of the tax code with a national consumption tax. More and more taxpayers are demanding action from their representatives in Congress, and their representatives are listening. Just one year ago, there were 33 sponsors and co-sponsors of HR 25, The FairTax Act, in the U.S. House. Now there are 53 supporters, and new co-sponsors are joining every month. In the Senate, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) was the lone sponsor of the FairTax Act, S 25, one year ago. Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John Cornyn (R-TX) now join Senator...

As it is tax time again, many people (myself included) do their taxes and look forward to the refund they will receive and how they will spend it. Now imagine if you got a tax refund from the government at the first of every month instead of only once a year. That would be something. Did you know that there is a bill in Congress right now that would give every American a tax rebate every month?

Americans should be concerned about the competitive edge that our tax system gives foreign manufacturers. We should no longer allow the income tax to make foreign-produced goods more competitive than our own. Replacing the income tax with the Fair Tax, a highly progressive federal consumption tax, will end this practice and make American products 20 percent to 30 percent more competitive, both at home and abroad. What a break for U.S. producers and consumers as well! Getting rid of the income tax will dramatically lower production costs in this country. And competition will ensure that these cost savings will flow...

FairTax legislation would shift taxation from production to consumption! We have advanced the idea there should be a Boston Tea Party-type revolt against our federal tax system. It is unfair, complex beyond comprehension, burdensome, oppressive, invades constitutional rights and is harmful to economic growth and prosperity. Sound off on the important issues at The revolt advocated was not to stop paying your income taxes but to join in a national effort to replace a system which has been totally corrupted. Steve Forbes is correct when he says "the existing income tax system is beyond repair and the only solution is...

If U.S. Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.) has his way, April 15 will no longer be a dreaded day on the calendar; the only Americans paying taxes on that day would be those who go shopping. That's because Mr. Linder wants to replace the current federal income tax system (personal taxes, payroll taxes, corporate taxes, all of it) with a 23 percent national sales tax. The tax would be collected at the point of sale for new goods and services, and it would appear on every retail receipt. Each American would choose how much he pays in taxes by deciding how...

Now I feel totally liberated. I'm going to be out there talking about the conservative agenda. I'm going to be working very hard to get rid of the federal tax code and replace it with the FairTax.

The FairTax (HR 25 in the US House and S 25 in the US Senate) is a federal retail sales tax that replaces the entire federal income and Social Security tax systems, including personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security/Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes. The FairTax allows Americans to keep 100 percent of their paychecks (minus any state income taxes), ends corporate taxes and compliance costs hidden in the retail cost of goods and services, and fully funds the federal government while fulfilling the promise of Social Security and Medicare. More FairTax benefits: No tax on used goods....

With millions of Americans once again struggling to complete their federal income taxes, it is a good time to reflect on the profoundly dysfunctional and highly punitive federal tax code that only gets more complicated year after year. The patchwork quilt of tax loopholes, exclusions, adjustments and various forms and schedules that we all struggle to understand is a reflection of the wholesale auctioning-off of the tax code over the last several decades at the hands of an army of powerful, well-heeled lobbyists. The hallway in front of the tax code-writing House Ways and Means Committee where they practice their...

A March 29 Op-ed article by Harold Meyerson painted a picture of jobs going offshore, and offered suggestions for a radical reordering of the economy. I would like to add a suggestion: tax reform that ends business taxation. Companies pass their corporate and input tax burdens on to consumers in the form of prices inflated with embedded taxes, to workers as cuts in wages and benefits, and finally by exporting jobs and relocating corporate operations offshore. This places an enormous drag on our economy. It hobbles us as we compete in the global market. We can't sustain it, but we...

With millions of Americans once again struggling to complete their federal income taxes, it is a good time to reflect on the profoundly dysfunctional and highly punitive federal tax code that only gets more complicated year after year. The patchwork quilt of tax loopholes, exclusions, adjustments and various forms and schedules that we all struggle to understand is a reflection of the wholesale auctioning off of the tax code over the last several decades at the hands of an army of powerful, well-heeled lobbyists. The code is so complex that even the Internal Revenue Service fails almost half of the...

Congressman Ander Crenshaw is co-sponsoring a bill that would replace the federal income tax system with a flat sales tax. Crenshaw (R-Jacksonville) has signed on as one of 52 co-sponsors of the FairTax Act, which was introduced in January 2005 by Congressman John Linder (R-Ga.). The measure would repeal federal income, corporate income, self-employment, payroll, capital gains, Social Security, Medicare and estate and gift taxes in favor of a 23 percent tax on all goods and services. Taxpayers would get a rebate of the sales tax equal to spending up to the federal poverty level. Crenshaw said the current state...