Free Republic

End the $100 Billion Witch Hunt by Herman Cain The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claims in a February 2006 report that for every dollar spent chasing unpaid taxes, they can recover about $4 for federal coffers. To close the expected 2005 “tax gap,” the IRS would have to spend $100 billion in an attempt to recover $400 billion. That’s $100 billion of our tax dollars spent to hunt us down for unavoidable errors trying to comply with the tax code. It’s not enough that many of us have to write checks to the IRS this time of year. Congress wants...

It is that time of year again. President Bush will journey tonight to Capitol Hill to do a ritual called the State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. That is, for members who decide to show up. The President will outline what he wants Congress to do. He will get huge media coverage, those members of Congress who love getting their faces on television will arrive early to get an aisle seat so they can be seen shaking hands with the president and then they will converge in Capitol Hill’s Statuary Hall afterward and do interviews...

-1- An Open Letter to the President, the Congress, and the American people Concerning Reform of the Federal Tax Code Dear Mr. President, Members of Congress, and Fellow Americans, We, the undersigned business and university economists, welcome and applaud the ongoing initiative to reform the federal tax code. We urge the President and the Congress to work together in good faith to pass and sign into federal law H.R. 25 and S. 25, which together call for: • Eliminating all federal income taxes for individuals and corporations, • Eliminating all federal payroll withholding taxes, • Abolishing estate and capital gains...

A "thanks" from John Linder ...

Tax Reform Group Blasts Presidential Tax Panel 10/18/2005 3:50:00 PM To: National Desk Contact: Tom Wright, 800-FAIRTAX, Leo Linbeck, 713-966-5846, or Ken Hoagland, 713-667-3331, all of FairTax.org HOUSTON, Oct. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Americans for Fair Taxation today blasted the Presidential Panel tasked with proposing fundamental changes to the tax system as engaging in, "Fraudulent political theater designed to protect the corrupt tax code and those who profit from its manipulation," said Leo Linbeck, chairman of the national grassroots organization. "When a Presidential Panel engages in such activities it does a great disservice to the American people." "Far from making...

TAX REFORM COMMISSION? YEAH ... RIGHT. The president's so-called tax reform commission telegraphed its intentions several months ago when members stated that they were not going to recommend a full reform of our federal tax system, rather they were going to recommend some incremental reforms. The The FairTax Book hit the book stores and debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller's list. Politicians and other Beltway denizens told co-author Congressman John Linder that the success of The FairTax Book was a certain indication that the people of this country were in the mood for wholesale reform. Who...

Jharkhand, the latest state to announce its decision to switch to the State VAT, must be commended. Despite being a BJP-ruled state at a time when the BJP leadership is preventing its states from joining the Vat regime, Jharkhand has chosen to do the sensible thing. It indicates either a change in the stance of BJP’s leaders, or some creditable independence on the part of Jharkhand’s leaders. This leaves six major states out of the system — Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and UP. Talks have been taking place with political leaders to get them to join in....

A good quick read...

A change in a tax affects that area of the economy . . . and beyond. Taxes hurt whatever is taxed. Income taxes hurt income (production). Sales taxes hurt sales (consumption). Higher rates have higher effects. After having read "The FairTax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS" by Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder, I realized that the 'FairTax' proposed by Boortz and Linder would change EVERYTHING. The 'FairTax' is not tax reform, it is tax upheaval. Since it taxes consumption instead of income, consumption WILL fall, and incomes WILL rise. All of the incentives (and...

A taxing idea Tom Wright envisions a world with no IRS, where Wal-Mart, Target, Macy's and the rest of the nation's shopkeepers are the federal tax collectors. And he says close to 600,000 Americans agree with him, including political leaders with the clout to make it happen.Wright is the executive director of Americans for Fair Taxation (www.fairtax.org), a group backing legislation to replace all federal income, payroll and corporate taxes with a 30 percent national sales tax on all new goods and services. Supporters say the tax would free Americans from mountains of paperwork, eliminate loopholes and tax fraud, encourage...

I know you're tempted not to read this article. I know this because there is nothing (except maybe an all-night marathon of Al Gore documentaries) more mind-numbingly boring than reading an article about taxes. Since my column on taxes is not competing as an alternative to "The Internet, Al Gore, & You," I must instead resort to begging each of you to indulge me for a brief moment of your time. I always thought that only grumpy old men cared about taxes. I vividly remember many days during my childhood, watching my Dad—normally as cool as a cucumber—emerge red-faced from...

IT'S YOUR PAYCHECK - KEEP IT ALL FAIRTAX CALCULATOR HR25/S25 Now that April 15 is past, it's time to tally up the tax score. Go to the FairTax calculator, http://www.pafairtax.org/calc.php and using 2004 figures, figure out (anonymously) what you would have spent in 2004 in taxes if we had the FairTax, the simple, honest, and progressive national retail sales tax, instead of our current complex income tax/FICA tax system. TOTAL INCOME TAX + TOTAL FICA = TOTAL FAIRTAX : For your household, please remember to make an honest and accurate comparison. FairTax will fund social security and medicare with 1/3...

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...

August 24, 2005 U.S. Representative John Linder 1026 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: 770-232-3005 Fax: 770-232-2909 Copy: Neal Boortz, WSB Radio, Dr. Dale Jorgenson, Harvard University Dear Representative Linder: I wrote to you two days ago regarding what I consider to be serious misrepresentations of the Fair Tax plan contained in your book, “The FairTax Book”. On page 2, you state “Let’s agree up front that this book is about honesty” and I intend to hold you at your word. Since that time, I have been in contact with Dr. Jorgenson in an attempt to clarify his...

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...

bureau's take on: The Fair Tax Bill, Newt in 2008? More....

Dear Editor, I've just read a new best-seller, which I highly recommend to you and your readers: "The Fair Tax Book, Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS." The co-authors are "reformed lawyer" and syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz, and Congressman John Linder, R-Ga. Linder is also the principal author/sponsor of The Fair Tax Bill (H.R. 25), currently before Congress. In the interest of brevity (the book is only 180 pages, by the way), I'll quote from the back of the dust jacket. "What the Fair Tax will do for America: eliminate the income tax and the...

NEW YORK (Money magazine) - If you don't care much for talk radio, or you don't live in the South, the name Neal Boortz might not ring a bell. But pay attention: Around 4 million people nationwide catch his radio show. It's No. 1 in Boortz's home market of Atlanta and ranks first or second in numerous smaller cities in red states. His 180-page polemic for radical tax reform, The FairTax Book, made its debut at No. 1 on the New York Times' bestseller list in August. When Boortz came to Jacksonville for a book signing at a downtown hotel...

THE FAIRTAX --- STRAIGHTENING OUT SOME CONFUSION When Congressman Linder and I were busy researching and writing The FairTax Book we knew full well that it would one day become the focal point for those opposed to this tax reform idea. We tried, therefore, to make sure that our numbers and claims were correct and consistent with the research that went into the drafting of HR 25. On review, and after reading the critiques of opponents to the FairTax plan, we have concluded that there is one element of the FairTax that could have been present with more clarity in...

President Bush says he wants to reform the tax system and has appointed a tax reform commission that will issue a report in September. It was originally supposed have finished by July 31, but the White House asked the commission to delay its report so that it would not interfere with the Social Security reform effort, which needs a few more months before it can be declared legally dead. When this whole effort started, I said on numerous occasions in columns and interviews that the White House had made a very serious error in attempting to do both Social Security...