Tag Archives: Fair Tax

IRS Tax Revenue Down 25%

The IRS said today that their tax revenues are down 25% from last year.  No problem, those of us left that are still working will just pony up. Remember, according to Vice President Joe Biden, paying taxes is an act of patriotism.

A teaching moment here. Under the Fair Tax, there would be no 25% decrease in taxing revenue. Why? Because the revenue is not taken from the worker’s income.  The revenue is instead, taken upon consumption of goods and services, not on your income. And, because income and investments are not taxed under the Fair Tax plan, businesses that have moved off shore to escape the current tax system will have a reason to return and put their $13-15 trillion to use right here in the United States.

Not to mention the unknown trillions of new business from companies around the world that have not yet done business in the United States, that would see the United States as a relative tax haven and locate here.

Why The Tea Parties?

If you think your government is taxing too much, spending too much, and borrowing too much, there’s a good reason for that. Just look at this 20 year chart.

While whining about the $1.3 trillion dollar deficit he inherited, Obama’s way of fixing this is to spend over 4 times that amount, AND, in the same breath will say that he is going to cut the deficit in half in 4 years. The numbers of what the Obama administration wants to spend in his first term is equal to all the spending done by the first 43 presidents combined. And, is the first President of the United States to commit generational theft in the process.

The Congressional Budget Office, the number crunchers in Washington that Democrats loved to quote under the Bush administration, is today poo poo’d by these same Democrats because the CBO’s estimate of Obama’s policies are not the same as the administration’s own number crunchers. The CBO says it is unsustainable. And they are trying to delegitimize the CBO for that. Remember, shooting the messenger is what they do. No matter who or what the target.

Look at the chart. Neither of the estimates are acceptable. All the administration has is spin and deception to force this burdensome debt onto our children and grandchildren. And they could care less.

‘Never allow a crisis to go to waste, they are opportunities to do big things,’ as explained by President Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanual. What this means is, President Obama is not going to rebuild the economy until he first transforms it into his socialist version, and after that he plans to rebuild the economy in its new and devalued state where the people are less free and the government wields and holds all the power. That is not the change we hoped for or voted for. And that’s why Tea Parties are springing up all over the country.

People who love this country the way it has been for the last 200 plus years are gathering to say, Stop The Spending, Stop the Government Growth, Stop Limiting Freedoms, Stop Nationalizing Business and Industry.  Stop!

The Tea Parties are free. Stand up and let our elected officials see you. Come and join us at both if possible.

  • First one is in Santa Rosa County on Saturday, April 11, 2009 from 11:00 to 1:30 PM at the Farmer’s Opry House, 8897 Byrom Campbell Rd., Chumuckla. This event is to protest the increased taxation and spending by the Federal Government. Bring your American flags; wear patriotic attire, and a big smile. A Dutch treat lunch costing $12.50 each will be served. Music to be provided by the Opry’s Sawmill Band. PLEASE RSVP by April 9 at [email protected] or call Wayne Smyly 850 994-1443
  • The second one is in Escambia County on Wednesday, April 15, 2009, from 3 PM to 6 PM in front of University Mall in Pensacola.

Why The Fair Tax? Why Not?

Compared to the current tax system that we have grown up with, the Fair Tax is revolutionary.

For the last 96 years, lawmakers in Washington have been fixing, adjusting, and targeting the tax laws which are now over 65,000 pages long, and so complicated that the Treasury Secretary himself does not know how to comply with them. And he is in charge of them. The current tax code is too big, too punitive, too complicated, and counter-productive to business, savings, and investment for individual taxpayers as well as business.

For argument’s sake, imagine for a moment, that for the last 96 years we have been operating under the Fair Tax. Taxing consumption instead of income, where people have been getting all of their earned pay in their paychecks every week. And the national averages of income, investment, jobs, and employment levels are what they are.

Then imagine that there is a move in Washington to totally re-vamp and revise the tax code. Proponents of the new plan want to repeal the 131 page tax bill and replace it with a 65,000 page tax bill. Under this new plan, the government can take from 10% to 35% of your hard-earned pay, beginning with your first dollar earned. And if you own a business, the government can take 35% of your business’s income as well. To pay for Social Security, Medicare and other government programs, the government will take 15% of your pay from you and your employer. And when your company is successful to the extent that they realize some capital gains, the government can take 35% of that. Also under this new tax plan, the government will take 45% of your estate upon your death.

Under this new plan, the size of the contributing tax base becomes smaller, increasing the burden on the remaining productive citizens.

Oh by the way, you’ll probably pay a lot of money to have some one figure out what will most likely be the incorrect amount of taxes you owe and you’ll pay for corporate tax compliance by an increase in the costs of goods and services.

OK. Now. Which plan looks best to you? The current Fair Tax plan, or the New Plan?

The FairTax Calculator

Try out the calculator online and see how your income would change without having to do a thing. On its own, the FairTax is fundamentally, economically, stimulative.

FairTax Press Release

The Pensacola Fair Tax Advocates will be bringing the facts on the Fair Tax to Pensacola. The Fair Tax is an alternative method to the current tax system for financing the federal government, and is an economic engine all on its own when compared to the current taxing system. The Fair Tax would do more to revitalize our economy and at no cost to future generations than the proposals currently coming out of Washington. If you would like to know more, like why and how the Fair Tax is a better way to finance the government, please join us on Tuesday evening 6PM to eat, 7PM for the presentation, March 31, 2009 at Jerry’s Cajun Cafe.

The FFTEA (Florida Fair Tax Education Association) is recruiting Fair Tax advocates. Now seeking Community Coordinators in the Panhandle in Congressional District 1. Please come and enjoy the food, fellowship, and fun in getting the word out about the Fair Tax.

Ross Calloway, Co District Director (FFTEA) Call 850-512-9860 for more info or visit our website at http://www.meetup.com/Pensacola-Fair-Tax-Meetup-Group/ or my blog at https://rosscalloway.com/fair-tax-economic-recovery/

'Stimulus' Is Working, For Switzerland

Here’s a real-life example that speaks to the benefits of the Fair Tax in attracting business from around the world. It is the exodus of business from the United States as they escape the ‘tax hammer’ of the politicos in Washington. They are moving their domicile to Switzerland. How’s that for an economic stimulus?

As the Obama administration prepares to hit the energy industry with a $10 Billion tax ‘incentive’ (his word, not mine), the law of free-market economics does what it does just as sure as gravity does what it does, it ignores the will of the political class.

The tidy towns and mountain vistas of Switzerland are an unlikely setting for an oil boom. Yet a wave of energy companies has in the last few months announced plans to move to Switzerland — mainly for its appeal as a low-tax corporate domicile that looks relatively likely to stay out of reach of Barack Obama’s tax-seeking administration.

In a country with scant crude oil production of its own, the virtual energy boom has changed the canton or state of Zug, about 30 minutes’ drive from Zurich, beyond all recognition. Its economy was based on farming until it slashed tax rates to attract commerce after World War Two.

The Fair Tax would, all on its own and without increasing our national debt, change the global business paradigm by making the United States the tax haven for businesses around the world.

Link: RPT-FEATURE-Corporate oil booms in low-tax Switzerland

Fair Tax YouTube Ad

This video makes a good case for what is wrong with the current tax system. At the same time, it makes the case for the Fair Tax.

Tim Geithner, President Obama’s nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, would have already been confirmed if the Fair Tax was in place. Because under the Fair Tax, there are no tax returns to file and NOT paying your taxes becomes impossible.

Real Change, A Constitutional Convention

By now you’ve probably got the notion that the politicos in Washington have stopped listening to you and have settled in on the idea of keeping the power and status that goes with ‘serving’ our country. You also have learned that Washington believes that they know what is good for you, your family, your business, your livelihood, and your childrens’ education.

Paramount in every one’s mind today is the economy. As never before in our nation’s history and in world history, we no longer have just our economy sandwiched between two oceans living happily ever after. We are part of a global economy that is subject to the give and take, or if you will, the actions and reactions of industrialized nations around the world.

With that in mind, what we are hearing from Washington nowadays is that government spending of apocalyptic proportions is going to bring our economy around to recovery. And that couldn’t be more wrong. To think otherwise, you must assume that the government makes money and it is just spending the money it makes to help us. Fact is, the government only prints money, it doesn’t make a thin dime. The money the government uses is made by you and I. In fact, they have been spending money that we, our children, and our grandchildren haven’t yet made. The government gets it through taxation. They don’t make it, they take it. And they take it in ways that are punitive to those that create it, and in ways that hurt the most vulnerable among us. That would be the poor, and the means is the payroll tax. They take it so they can spend it in ways that will insure not only their re-election but their hold of power for power’s sake. NOT for the improvement of the economy.

As I said in the previous post, a lot of politicians will have to go into a 12-step program to wean themselves from of the old way of ‘control through taxation’ before real progressive change can take place in America. Question is, what will make them do that? Who will make them see the light? There is only one answer to this question. The people that elected them, you and I, are the ones who will proscribe it. First by electing like minded representatives. Second by pushing for a Constitutional Convention.

Georgia’s Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has planted the seed and Neal Boortz, co-author of the Fair Tax book and Fair Tax: The Truth, Answering the Critics, has expanded on it. This is the kind of change that I’m talking about. What follows is from Boortz’s website.

We need a Constitutional Convention called for the sole purpose of adding three specific amendments to the United States Constitution. The convention would consider these three amendments … and nothing further. Two-thirds of the States need to pass a resolution calling for such a convention, and those resolutions need to be specifically worded so as to limit the purpose of the convention to these three amendments. Without that limitation we’re going to have left-wing fools trying to add amendments guarantying such things as a right to a job, a place to live and health care. Not good.

So .. what are the three amendments? (You don’t listen to me all that much, do you?) Very simple …

1. An amendment to the Constitution repealing the 16th Amendment. What is the 16th Amendment? That would be the income tax. By repealing the 16th Amendment the Congress would be forced to come up with a new way of generating the revenue needed for the legitimate functions of our government.
2. An amendment repealing the 17th Amendment. The 17th Amendment calls for the popular election of U.S. Senators. Before the 17th Amendment each state legislature would appoint that state’s two Senators. The congressmen were in Washington to represent the people, and the Senators were there to represent the states. Right now the government of Mexico has an official representative in Washington; the government of New Mexico does not. This enables the federal government to run roughshod over the states with unfounded mandates and other federal demands. Give the state governments a voice in Washington .. repeal the 17th Amendment.
3. An amendment setting term limits for members of the House of Representatives. Give them three terms, then send them home. Yes, I know, there are some people we would truly like to keep up there to pursue some worthy objectives, but in the balance we’re hurt by those who spend taxpayer money to solidify their power than we are would be by sending the few good representatives home at the end of six years.

Now .. here’s the reality here. The Congress would probably never permit this Constitutional Convention to be called. As soon as they saw state legislatures passing the resolutions to bring these things to pass we would see the members of congress trying to beat the citizens to the punch. No … they’re not going to send the choice of Senators back to the states, and they’re unlikely to set term limits for themselves. But we might actually see some movement on the repeal of the 16th Amendment and serious consideration given to the FairTax.

Dreaming? Maybe so, but maybe not. Get the right grassroots organization formed to push this idea for a Constitutional Convention and you just might rattle some cages in Washington. Who knows? Maybe the people might start counting again.

Our Representative in Northwest Florida, Jeff Miller, is a supporter of the Fair Tax as a method of tax reform and economic recovery. We have to work on the others around the country and our Senators as well. For more information about The Fair Tax see the links below. The ‘grassroots’ is you and I. In Pensacola come join us and be part of the solution. Hit the Pensacola Fair Tax Meetup Group link below.

Answering Papantonio With The Fair Tax

Below is a ‘comment’ that I left to an article Mike Papantonio wrote in the Pensacola News Journal yesterday entitled ‘No choice but to spend our way out.’ Coming from an Air America talk radio host, that is just the sort of ‘fix’ one could expect from him. But it was also an opportunity for me to ad my two cents to promote The Fair Tax as a real solution to our economic problems. And below is my reply:

If the PEOPLE only had more money left to spend, it would help to turn things around. But if the GOVERNMENT spends our (and our children’s and our grand-children’s) money, it will simply make the hole bigger.Two things to remember, when you’re in a hole, quit digging. And, like Winston Churchill said, “We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

So how do the people come to have more money? Don’t confiscate it via taxes, let them keep more of what they earn. Unfortunately, that won’t happen in today’s current political climate. CHANGE is what is needed. Changing how the government is financed, via the Fair Tax system, will go a long way in bringing us to economic recovery, creating jobs, business, investment, and savings.

But before that will happen, a lot of politicians will have to go into a 12-step program to wean themselves from of the old way of ‘control through taxation.’

It is a shame that today, President Elect Barack Obama is saying that ONLY THE GOVERNMENT can get us out of the current situation, through spending of epic proportions, and on programs that are not going to stimulate the economy, but instead will advance his campaign promises. The solution to the country’s problem is called The Fair Tax, where the people will have their own money to spend. Where the people will then choose, through the free market, who the winners and losers will be, rather than have it taken by THE GOVERNMENT to spend it elsewhere and on their special interests.

You can see where the 12-step program is needed. But don’t hold your breath for Barack and his Cabinet to sign up for it. It is up to you and I to remind the folks in Washington that they are supposed to represent us, not control us, and push us over the economic cliff with trillions and trillions of imaginary dollars, further weakening our economy.

Please share with us any letters to the editor or blog comments that you have written in support of The Fair Tax. See you at the next meetup. Tue. Jan 20, 7pm at Philly’s Cheesesteaks & Hoagies, 3900 Creighton Road.

Pensacola Fair Tax Advocates