Free Republic

I consider myself to be fairly liberal on most issues. So some of you might be surprised that I am about to take a position that’s usually the providence of hardcore conservatives. I support HR25—the Fair Tax Act of 2005. Yeah. The one that would replace virtually the entire tax system with a 23% sales tax. I read about it most recently in an unnecessarily hostile editorial by Matthew Holmes. Truth be told, his article did nothing to convince me that the tax is a good thing. But it convinced me to wade through the full text of the legislation,...

Many of the proposals that are being brought before you have merit. But they have merit in the same sense that treating the symptoms of a serious disease rather than the underlying cause of the disease has merit. If we have no means of treating the underlying disease, then we treat the symptoms in the hope the disease will run its course and the patient will improve. If we have not yet accurately diagnosed the disease, then we alleviate the symptoms until the tests are completed and we can attack the underlying problem. On the other hand, if we understand...