***DON’T READ FURTHER IF YOU BELIEVE THAT IT IS OK FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO HAVE ACCESS TO ALL AREAS OF YOUR FINANCIAL LIFE.
A Simple Way to Present the FAIRtax
In the U.S., enacting the FAIRtax would be simple. FAIRtax legislation would have to pass both the House and the Senate. Any differences between the House and Senate bills would be reconciled, then the President would sign the final bill into law.
When that happens, the statutory authority to collect an income tax would be repealed, we would have a vastly superior way to fund the government, and taxpayers could TAKE BACK CONTROL of when they pay their federal taxes and how much they pay.
Congress and the D.C. bureaucrats clearly understand that the income/payroll tax system:
- Has a staggering evasion problem. The IRS admits that the tax gap—the difference between taxes owed and taxes actually collected—is at least $1 trillion a year.
- This evasion is widespread and found in every ethnic and income group.
- Most of the evasion is not done by criminals.
- Evaders don’t identify themselves to the IRS. In order to significantly reduce evasion, the IRS will have to increase the number of tax audits on all taxpayers and enforce stiff financial and legal penalties to deter other evaders.
- The IRS has told Congress that in order to stop evasion, it needs unprecedented access to every citizen’s banking records. It needs to know how much money is transferred into and out of our bank accounts, and it needs a record of everyone’s credit card purchases. The IRS also wants computers that can analyze all the intimate details of a taxpayer’s finances and calculate everyone’s tax bill. If the taxpayer doesn’t pay what the IRS thinks he/she owes, the IRS will send a demand for the difference and start the collection process.
Congress and the DC bureaucrats know the income/payroll tax system is fatally flawed, but they insist on propping it up for two primary reasons:
- They make a lot of money selling tax favors to special interests and they can extort even more by threatening to change the law and take away their special treatment.
- The income/payroll tax system gives them an enormous amount of control over us. By offering tax incentives for certain behaviors and tax penalties for others, they can influence things like what kind of light bulbs we buy, what kind of cars we drive and how much we can save for our retirement. They oppose the FAIRtax because they don’t want to give up that power.
Ten Questions to Ask Your Member of Congress— Or Their Aides
- Do you believe that all federal laws should be obeyed?
- Do you agree that criminal evasion of the income tax needs to be stopped?
- Are you in favor of empowering the IRS to catch all of the income tax evaders?
- To do so, the IRS says it needs significantly more funding so it can audit more and more Americans. It also says it needs access to everyone’s banking records and credit card purchases. Do you favor this?
- If the Member says yes to the above question, then ask Do you really want me to make sure that all of your constituents understand that you favor more audits and intrusions into their personal lives?
- If the Member says, of course not, then ask the Member how else the evasion can be stopped?
- Then ask the Member if eliminating the need to report all of our financial data to the IRS would also eliminate the need to intrude into our privacy?
- Ask the Member if he/she knows about the FAIRtax?
- Ask the Member if our federal taxes were paid when we made purchases like state sales taxes, would the federal government need to invade everyone’s privacy in order to stop tax evasion?
- Ask if he/she supports the FAIRtax? If not, then point out that not supporting the FAIRtax leaves the Member in one of two positions. He/she either favors giving the IRS more power to invade our privacy, or he/she favors allowing the evasion to continue.
Conclusion
Will Rogers said, Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.
While many of us try to follow this advice in dealing with others, most of us still resent government intrusions into our privacy.
We have come to accept certain intrusions as a price of living in a civilized country. We know that:
- The ownership of our home is public record and any loans are public record.
- We need a driver’s license to operate a car.
- Our voter’s registration and political affiliation is public record.
- We register our cars with the DMV.
While we may not like having this information on the public record, we can see the reasons for these intrusions.
But, do you really want the government knowing all of the intimate details of your personal finances when there’s a way to fund the government and still keep your personal business private?
Does anyone think that the bureaucrats will keep our confidential financial data private when leaking it could advance a political agenda or punish someone for questioning their actions?
Even if we are not marked for “punishment,” does anyone believe that our personal financial data can’t be hacked and published on the internet? If you think your confidential data is safe, remember what recently happened to many wealthy Americans who saw their “confidential” income tax returns on the internet.
The income/payroll tax system is broken and no longer working—we can’t repair it but we can replace it with the FAIRTAX!
Join us and TAKE BACK CONTROL OF OUR COUNTRY—NOT WITH BULLETS BUT WITH THE ELIMINATION OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST THREATS TO OUR LIBERTY AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY—THE INCOME/PAYROLL TAX.
We all should remember Edmund Burke’s warning that applies to our efforts to TAKE BACK CONTROL,
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
We should also remember this quote from George Orwell's 1984, which, if we do nothing, may foretell your and your children's future:
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”