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"Facts are
stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the
dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and
evidence." - John Adams
Campaign Alert: They're At It Again!
Your
efforts on behalf of the FairTax are being heard loud and clear. You know how
we know?
More
and more candidates are recycling inaccurate and outright false claims about
their opponents who have supported the FairTax.
Weapons
of choice are videos and press releases designed to present FairTax supporters as
“radical” advocates for raising taxes on the poor and middle class while giving
tax cuts to the wealthy. For example:
Missouri
Senator Claire McCaskill spins: “Both
[Opponents] Have Endorsed Radical Tax Plan That Makes Middle Class Families Pay
More so Mega-Millionaires Don't Have to”
Ron
Barber, running for Congress in Arizona’s 8th Congressional
district, claims his opponent’s “radical
statements in favor of a tax policy will hurt middle class families.”
Both campaigns dusted off an
eight-year-old paper by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. This “study” looked at a mythical national
sales tax while loosely referencing H.R. 25, but did not analyze the actual
pending FairTax legislation, HR 25/S 13.
Karen
Walby, Ph.D. conducted a thoughtful analysis of the ITEP paper against the
actual FairTax legislation and documented numerous flaws including:
The
ITEP paper did not model nor analyze the actual FairTax plan - Dr. Walby found that ITEP fabricated its own version of a
national retail sales tax, rather than analyzing HR 25, even though various
campaigns have very specifically named this legislation in their Campaign
language, literature, and graphics.”
The
ITEP work keeps the sales tax rate a mystery - In analyzing their “national sales tax” ITEP clearly substituted their
own sales tax base and rate though just what’s in that tax base and what rate
remains a mystery, right along with the identities of the work’s authors.
Finally,
the ITEP paper doesn’t share the details of its methodology and relies on
static modeling that “assumes away” the behavioral effect of tax law changes!
Fact:
The FairTax benefits the middle class
Dan Mastromarco, co-developer
of the FairTax plan, penned a factual defense to similar tired claims that the FairTax actually
increases the middle class tax burden. Mr. Mastromarco opined:
The Kotlikoff study [of the
FairTax] examined 42 hypothetical families, including a middle-aged couple with
two children earning $20,000, $70,000 and $500,000 per year…
The
low-income family received an 86 percent cut in its average remaining lifetime
tax rate; the middle-income family a 46 percent cut, and the high-income family
a 42 percent cut. The Fair Tax's progressivity is attributable partly to repeal
of payroll taxes middle-income wage earners bear, and to the novel concept that
government should not tax us before we have met our own sustenance. The Fair
Tax totally exempts from taxation expenditures below the poverty threshold for
all households.
But
fairness is defined in many ways. Whether taxpayers have more money in their
pockets after enactment is one common-sense definition. Another Kotlikoff
study
shows that low, middle and high-income households respectively experience a
26.7, 10.9 and 4.7 percent welfare gain.
Fact: Candidates who defend the
FairTax win
The 2010 election is a great
example of Americans rejecting lies about the FairTax. Candidates running
against incumbents, who strongly supported the FairTax, and defended that
position during their election campaign, were nearly six times more likely to
win than challengers who did not support the FairTax!
Fact: The
FairTax Truth Squad needs your help!
It is imperative that
FairTaxers everywhere hold campaigns and candidates accountable when they
provide voters with false or inaccurate information about one of the most
important public policy issues this country has ever faced.
This will require relentless
scrutiny of local, state and national print, broadcast and social media, and campaign
websites to document, call out and correct false and misleading statements and assertions
about the FairTax.
Please join the FairTax Truth
Squad by sending an email to grassroots@fairtax.org with “Truth Squad” in the subject line. Thanks
to all who’ve already joined!
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