The President, the Democrats, and the Republicans are all proposing reform of the tax code as a path to solving our sick fiscal condition. They only disagree in what the reforms should be. In this they are attempting to distract us from the true problem: Their having the power to tax our income in the first place. This power to tax our income from whatever source derived and without limit is what allows them to rule rather than represent us. No reform of the tax code will have any lasting beneficial effect on our economy because Congress has the power to change any reforms to the code and has done so repeatedly since 1913. INCOME TAXATION IS THE PROBLEM. Congress has been usurping the tax code since its inception, assailing our freedom to control our income and, therefore, our pursuit of prosperity. They have passed law after law that redistributes our income to buy the votes of favored blocs, serve the ends of those wealthy enough to hire lobbyists, and reward the big bucks contributors to their campaigns for office. We don?t need to eliminate the loop holes in the tax code. We need to eliminate the tax code. Until we do our politicians will just play ?musical chairs? with loop holes. Witness how the four page bill that Congress initially wrote to bailout Wall Street in 2008 swelled to 400 pages as 100 new loop holes were added to win over congressmen whose constituents overwhelmingly opposed the bailout.

Early in the first term of George W. Bush a special commission was formed to reform the tax code. Finally, a year after their deadline, they presented their recommendations which are still gathering dust somewhere in the Treasury Department. A similar fate was suffered by the recommendations that President Barack Obama?s special commission made to address our debt in December of 2010. With all the political arguing and posturing on raising the debt ceiling right up to the August 2, 2011 deadline, President Obama never led by introducing the suggestions of his own special commission.

The pity of it all is that more revenue could be raised by replacing federal income taxes with a simple and fair retail sales tax. A bill written to do just that has been introduced and reintroduced in Congresses since 1999. Under both party majorities the House Ways and Means Committee has not allowed the bill to get to the House floor for open debate. They know that if the benefits of this bill become widely known they will have to transfer the reins of government from themselves back to the people. No politician could oppose the FairTax and remain in office. Imagine that! A novel idea only about 220 years old! A government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Our founding fathers envisioned just such a government. To this end our original Constitution prohibited income taxation. Its framers knew that allowing Congress the power to tax our income would destroy our Republic. Their prediction has nearly come to pass as we are faced with ever escalating financial crises.

If our founding fathers were still around they would surely tell Congress ?I told you so!?
The same year that the 16th amendment was passed, Congress passed the Federal Reserve Bill. Back in 1802 Thomas Jefferson warned, ?I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow
private banks to control the issue of their currency,?, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property – until their children
wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.? The Federal Reserve is a cartel of private banks. Jefferson warned Congress of the consequences of shirking their responsibility to control the nation?s money supply. Those consequences are rapidly becoming our unfortunate reality.

What would our founding fathers say about our Congress spending us into crushing debt through the establishment of one failing bureaucracy after another? Here are a few quotes from them:

?I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.? ? James Madison

?I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.? Thomas Jefferson

Redistribution of Income: ?The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.? -Thomas Jefferson

Indebting future generations: ?It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
-Thomas Jefferson

Expanding the size of Federal government: ?My reading of history convinces me
that most bad government results from too much government?. -Thomas Jefferson

Obamacare (for one example): ?To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.?
?Thomas Jefferson

Principles of a sound economy:
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves. -Abraham Lincoln (not considered a founding father but considered one of our great presidents)
It seems that the ideology of President Obama is a radical departure from that of President Lincoln.

The FairTax bill (H.R. 25) is all about freedom, the freedom we had in all of our history up to 1913. Since then, inroad after inroad has been made on our freedom as Congress has grown the Federal government into a giant parasite that sucks away our incentive to work hard, save, invent, and invest.

Our system of income taxation is an affront to our liberty and equality. It is a drag on our economy. It corrupts our politicians who use it to buy votes, reward friends, and punish enemies. It disguises spending under the guise of benevolence. It adds compliance costs to businesses that are passed along to their costumers. It is exceedingly complicated in its rules and inefficient in its collection. It plays favorites.

On the campaign trail politicians repeatedly propose to solve any problem by a change to the tax code. In doing so they unwittingly affirm that the existence of the code itself is the problem. We have had campaigns for our House seats every two years, for Senate seats every six years, and for President every four years in the 98 years since the start of income taxation. The constant revisions (reforms) of the tax code have grown it from four pages to around 70,000. A good definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

The FairTax Bill takes the politics out of raising revenues while increasing revenues above those collected by income taxation. The only downside to that is it gives Congress more money to spend. The upside is that their spending is transparent. They cannot hide their spending behind an indecipherable code. The FairTax rate cannot be raised without a 2/3 majority of Congress.

Equality is honored by the FairTax. It is imbedded in every retail purchase of goods and services by individuals. Unlike income taxation no one can escape the FairTax when they buy something for personal use at retail. Even crooks, illegal immigrants, and tourists will add to our treasury by their spending. They can escape the FairTax only by choosing to buy used goods which all are FREE to do. Wholesale purchases by manufacturers and businesses are not taxed as these purchases are an investment in the economy. The same goes for education.

The fairest element in the FairTax is the prebate feature that guarantees that no American, rich or poor, pays any tax into the treasury until he has spent above what is needed to exceed the poverty level.

One of the cruel hoaxes perpetrated by liberal politicians in particular is that corporations should be taxed more and rich individuals should pay more on their capital gains. Every expense (including taxes) a corporation incurs in the process of bringing their product or service to market is added into the final price charged the consumer. The burden of increased corporate taxes is laid on the consumer. This is hardest on the poor. Increasing corporate taxes makes it more difficult to obtain the capital needed to employ more workers and provide them better wages and benefits. Increasing capital gains taxes has the same braking effect on our economy. Capital gains are the product of capital being invested into the economy. President Obama chides businesses for not bringing home to America the trillions that they have offshore. He doesn?t get it that income taxation is what has driven it into protective custody in the first place. With the FairTax in place these trillions would be invested in our economy within three months. Foreign businesses would also flock to our shores to set up shop. Unemployment would drop to an historic low. We would all receive larger paychecks because federal withholding would be eliminated. We would all have more money to spend, greasing the wheels of our consumption economy. We would all be relieved of the headache of filing income tax returns.

Politicians are so loath to give up their control of our earnings that they overwhelmingly oppose the FairTax. Imagine their life without the code. Much of the material for their campaign speeches would be gone. They could no longer argue with one another over raising or lowering taxes for this or that group (voting bloc). We would not have been subjected to the circus of the debate over raising taxes as raising the debt limit was considered. They would lose much of the ?quid pro quo? element in soliciting campaign money from America?s wealthiest. Half of the registered lobbyists are tax lobbyists. They would lose the perks provided by lobbyists who seek tax breaks for their rich clients. It would become more difficult for them to be career politicians. Their vote buying power would be severely curtailed. The Congressional office buildings would no longer be schools to train congressmen and their aides for entry into the lucrative lobbying racket. They would have to get off the ?gravy train? they are riding around the beltway.

The opposition of politicians to the FairTax is nearly universal. They dance around the issue when supporters manage to approach them on it. Their most consistent tactic is to attack it after representing it as something it is not. This is the tactic President George W. Bush?s special commission on tax reform used. Their opposition is not intellectual, but based on a misguided self interest.

If we don?t pass the FairTax and repeal the 16th amendment we will continue towards the self destruction predicted by our founding fathers.