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Tax-Overhaul Panel Gives Bush Two Choices Options to Consider Include A Simplified Current System Or a Consumption-Based Levy By ROBERT GUY MATTHEWS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL October 19, 2005; Page A4 WASHINGTON -- President Bush's tax-overhaul panel agreed to offer two alternatives to the present tax code: one that streamlines the current income tax and another that would replace it with a progressive tax on consumption. SNIP Neither is likely to become law, but they offer the Treasury Department and the White House a framework for legislative proposals that could be considered by Congress next year. SNIP...

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...

Comment: 50 Reasons I Support the FairTax (How many reasons can you give for supporting the present IRS tax system?) Those Who Know the Facts Love the Fair Tax www.fairtax.org FairTax and Individuals and Families (Family-friendly tax reform)1. It allows workers to keep 100% of their pay, with nothing withheld the IRS or for Social Security and Medicare payments. 2. It is revenue neutral with the present income tax system, funding the federal budget at current levels. 3. It shifts the tax to consumption. Records show that consumption is more stable than income, therefore the tax revenue stream is likely...

While the "flat tax" has been pretty much dead for the past decade in the US, it has been adopted in one country after another overseas, a process outlined in the Opinion Journal article linked to. While the flat tax is no cure-all--it is often justified as a way of increasing tax revenues--it represents a rejection of the egalitarian premise behind "progressive" tax rates. "Next month's report of the White House tax reform commission will likely stop short of advocating a complete scrapping of the tax code. But look for it to have warm words for how well the flat...

I have a few questions for the FairTax experts to answer! Beyond section 1 of HR25, where it repeals the existing Income Tax legislation, after reading further into the bill...

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...