Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- George W. Bush's chances of engaging the country with a dynamic second-term initiative were sabotaged this week. His own tax reform advisory panel Tuesday reported two plans exceeding the worst expectations. Not only would they be dead on arrival if actually sent to Congress, but they probably stifle President Bush's hopes for seriously reshaping how Americans are taxed. The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform created 10 months ago released its report Tuesday, and it turned out to have precious little to do with what Republicans think of as reform. Instead of a low flat tax, it...

When President Bush formed his President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform he charged that panel with developing a tax reform proposal that would achieve three principal objectives: 1. The proposal should simplify the Federal tax code so as to reduce the costs of tax compliance. 2. The proposal should promote home ownership and charitable giving. 3. The proposal should promote economic growth, job creation and encourage individual saving and investment while strengthening the competitiveness of the US in the global economy. We now have a clear indication of the proposals that will come from the president’s tax reform panel,...

A good quick read...

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...

Imaginative director Terry Gilliam recently released his long-awaited epic The Brothers Grimm, starring Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. After well over a month, Neil Boortz and Representative John Linder’s The Fair Tax Book still resides in the top 10 on Amazon.com’s best-seller list. It is difficult to tell whether the book or the movie is the bigger fairy tale. Aug 23, 2005 -- 09:07:50 PM EST The premise behind the “Fair” Tax is simple – shockingly so. The income tax should be disbanded (as should the IRS) and replaced with a 23% consumption tax on all retail purchases. The authors...

The self-proclaimed High Priest of the Church of the Painful Truth is power-walking through Concourse B at an impressive pace for a man limping on a recuperating knee. He's on a scouting mission: Are shops at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport stocking his latest book? Is he curious? In need of an ego boost? "Revenge," he says in a voice Atlantans might recognize as either a jolting cold shower of meanness or an invigorating brew of straight talk on the radio. Neal Boortz is a New York Times best-selling author. So, as Boortz loves to say on air, "Bite me." His literary...

FairTax Book Neal Boortz and Congressman Linder and the FairTax Book are on a roll. Make it to a rally / booksigining if you can : http://boortz.com/more/appearances.html The FairTax Book will soon debut at number 1 on the NYT Bestseller list. This is worth millions in free advertising. More good advertising will be for us to carry the book with us wherever we go. The more people see that see that book cover the better. If you can't tote it, leave it in the deck of your car's back window. If you don't have the book yet, go to http://www.amazon.com/...

As with the weather, a lot of people complain about the U. S. Tax Code, but few do anything about it. The reality is that the opportunity to do something about the tax code doesn't come around very often; maybe once per generation but now, in the year 2005, we have that opportunity. For the sake of all Americans and future generations of Americans, we must not squander this chance. The President made tax reform one of the main objectives for his second term. He has vowed to reform the tax code, to make it "pro-growth, simple and easy to...