Republican Kerry Bowers Says Senator Supports Contradictory Tax Plans

Henderson, NV, 23 March 2015 – The Kerry Bowers for President Committee released the following remarks in response to Senator Cruz’s recent actions and statements specific to federal taxation.

“On 19 March, I applauded Senator Cruz’s 10 March addition to the list of cosponsors for Senate bill S.155, the Fair Tax Act of 2015, which is a companion bill to HR 25 introduced in the House of Representatives. The Fair Tax is a national retail sales tax that abolishes all forms of income, payroll and corporate taxes and replaces them with a sales tax, one that includes a family consumption allowance to reduce or eliminate the regressive effects of a sales tax. The bill also abolishes the IRS and includes a ‘sunset’ title requiring repeal of the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution within 7 years else the Fair Tax is repealed. The companion bills today have more combined congressional sponsorship than any other proposed tax reform or replacement measure introduced to both houses of the 114th Congress.

I then learned that the Senator on 17 March, in an appearance on the MSNBC show, ‘Morning Joe,’ stated the following: “The perfect, the ideal and what I intend to fight for is a simple flat tax, where every person can fill out his or her taxes on a post card, which would enable you to abolish the IRS.” The senator, when queried by host Joe Scarborough what the tax rate would be, offered; “we’re still working the numbers.”

In my opinion, the Senator revealed he has no detailed plan or serious commitment to effectively and permanently change one of the most obstructive, destructive and liberty-infringing mechanisms imposed upon the American people. He has taken a position, as reflected in his statements, indicative of yet another income and payroll tax system, one contrary to the Founder’s vision for appropriate federal taxation as evident in the original Constitution and addressed in great detail in the Federalist Papers. This stated position stands in stark contrast to his eloquent speeches in which he implies his intent to restore the ideals imparted by the Founders in the nation’s framing documents.

I also believe it is disingenuous for the Senator to say that the IRS would be abolished under a flat income tax since the tax will require continued oversight of the 165-plus million individual tax filers and 20-plus million businesses. The Fair Tax, on the other hand, will require only businesses to file reports and make remittances; the administration and collection of the sales tax will be reserved, principally, to the States and done so on a voluntary and reimbursement basis. That last point is advocated in the Federalist Papers as a measure to avoid unnecessary redundancies in tax agents for the collection of impositions on items taxed by both the federal and state governments.

Perhaps an even more important aspect of the Senator’s flat-tax proposal, but not addressed by him, is the preservation of every avenue through which Congress may, and again, change a simple income tax system into the same discriminatory, incomprehensible and tyrannically-imposed system the American people endure today. One of those avenues that should be addressed as ‘dangerous’ and eliminated is the 16th Amendment which, as the debt continues to grow, could be used to seize personal assets to cover the nation’s financial obligations. Such seizures could occur under numerous disguises, including additional taxes imposed on every American’s accumulated wealth and the seizure of retirement funds for subsequent replacement with a government-controlled annuity.

The American people need to be truthfully advised too by those who promote a flat income tax that the peoples’ idea of a simple, single-rate tax is not what Congress will likely impose upon them. It will be either a multiple-rate system, like that recently proposed in the Lee-Rubio plan, or a single-rate system replete with wage-determinant deductions and exemptions designed to achieve the same result as a multiple-rate tax system. The people should also be reminded that payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare, which most workers pay double or more than what they pay in income taxes today, will remain in effect under a flat income tax.

Bottom line, the Senator’s conflicting positions are troubling and especially so in these extraordinary times.  We are at a pivotal point in our nation’s history and one that will require extraordinary leadership with extraordinary plans to alter the course upon which we are embarked. The proposition of another income tax does not meet the requisites to effect a suitable and sustainable course correction.”