"We the People" tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us. "We the People" are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. - President Ronald Reagan

FAST Growing Our Grassroots Movement

Dear Grassroots Members,

The FAST Board, your grassroots representation advising AFFT Houston (FairTax.org) on grassroots issues, wants to improve our communication with you, our constituents. As a first step, we plan to begin sending out regular updates in FairTax Friday.

A top priority of the FAST Board is to fill regional and state Director vacancies, while assisting state directors who are in the process of identifying, recruiting, training and deploying a massive legion (3,000) of FairTax volunteers in each of 435 congressional districts.

Once this project is completed, we will have 1.3 million plus FairTax activists from east to west, north to south – who will be the lever to recruit enough Congressional co-sponsors to force a floor vote and the passage of the FairTax.

Today we have 67 co-sponsors. During the past few months, several of those courageous Representatives have announced their retirement from Congress, which means we must re-double our efforts to make our eventual triple-digit goal in the House. In the Senate we have already reached a record with our current 9 co-sponsors.

Finally, with 1.3 million plus FairTax activists, we hope to have a sustainable donor base to counter attack ads with proper education, and to purchase supplies for the grassroots. We have been repeatedly advised that major donors want to see a steady base of smaller donors when they are consider major gifts.

To further grow our numbers, FAST is testing a marketing and research company named ccAdvertising that has demonstrated expertise in identifying and surveying potential supporters. AFFT Houston has raised the money and previously engaged this firm for other special call-to-action projects.

Recently, FAST joined forces with AFFT to utilize ccAdvertising’s capabilities for a fundraising pilot across five Congressional districts chosen by FAST.  ccAdvertising, working in conjunction with another firm, Campaign HQ, is seeking to identify potential FairTax supporters and donors. If this test is successful, we will consider further penetration of the ccAdvertising model nationwide to help fuel FAST efforts to rapidly identify potential supporters and donors.

The FAST Board complements the line organization of AFFT Houston led by Campaign Manager, Cindy Canevaro. FAST Board members are Mike McLean-NC, Steve Curtis-OH, Mark Gupton-FL, Jim Bennett (Secretary)-NJ, Roger Buchholtz-MI, Jamie Wheeler-WA, Sam Kemp-TX, John Collet (Chair)-KS, Marilyn Rickert-IL, John Pierce-NC, and David Kahn-MD.

We welcome your comments, suggestions and recommended topics for discussion in future communications.  Please feel free to direct your communications to any FAST board member.

Sincerely,

Jim Bennett

NJ Volunteer State Director

The Grassroots Spotlight - FL Volunteers

Sam Kemp, a FAST board member and regional director, (pictured, left) sends us this note about the sucess of their billboard efforts!

In Florida we have a billboard program where we get business owner's permission to put one on their property. In Jacksonville, we recently hit the jackpot with a developer that owns many properties around the city. He has provided us with a list of his properties where we can erect the billboards.

It was merely a matter of continually talking to people: “who do you know, who do you know, who do you know”; and putting up one billboard at a time until we hit the jackpot. Within a month or so, a city of over a million people will be literally saturated with FairTax billboards.

There is no limit to what we can accomplish if we stay with it! 

The FairTax in the News

Sales tax is a fair tax - Aiken Standard

...I believe our current tax isn't fair because it's neither simple nor transparent. Most of us have no idea what we owe until we spend a week accumulating receipts, receive all year-end statements, buy Turbo Tax, and start plugging numbers into the computer. Wouldn't it be nice to know (throughout the year) what it costs us to fund the federal government? I support the fair tax, which eliminates all income-based taxes and generates revenue from a consumption tax on new goods and services.

While not perfect, it's a lot more fair than schemes that tweak tax codes by the political party in control, re-select winners and losers, buy votes from sub-groups, while adding tax complexity. The fair tax doesn't punish earnings, savings, investments or wealth. Instead it tends to reward responsible behaviors like saving, investing, re-purposing, buying used items, growing food, etc. There would be no advantage to hiding income in foreign banks, building products in low taxation countries or hiring a herd of lawyers to find loopholes in the latest tax laws. Consider the following analogy:

Imagine a speed limit on Whiskey Road that isn't posted, varies according to who's driving, allows higher speeds for newer vehicles, fluctuates according to who's in charge, etc. This is our tax code. It's not simple, it's not transparent, and it rewards or punishes behaviors unequally (and politically). As with most everything in life including traffic laws and taxation - simpler is better (and fairer).

- Richard Eichler, Aiken