Fair Tax Book Out -- Buy It For Yourself And A Leftist

Neal Boortz and Georgia Congressman John Linder have published a book, now in stores, on the Fair Tax.

The Fair Tax seeks to repeal the 16th Amendment and transfer all income taxes, payroll taxes and corporate taxes with a national retail sales tax. The prebate ensures that no person pays any tax on the necessities of life. Details and FAQ may be found at Citizens For An Alternative Tax System.

This system will cause a huge drop in prices as it removes the built in cost of taxation from the price of goods. It will increase your wages as the cost of payroll taxes are no longer bore by your employer. It will eliminate the filing of income tax forms, freeing up your CPA to make more money in financial planning.

But KJ, won't the tax make up the difference in the decreased price of goods? As Brad states in his comment to this post: While the cost of goods will drop due to the embedded taxes being removed from the production price, this will be offset by the tax itself. The end result is that the real cost of goods to the consumer will remain pretty well constant. Although, since you're actually taking home your whole paycheck, that cost as a share of your income will decrease.

Boortz claims the following endorsements, some of which I have seen: That list includes names such as Laurence Kotlikoff, Chair of the economics department of Boston University; Columnist George Will; former MLB Commissioner Peter Ueberroth; economist Raymond Keating; Jack Valenti, former president of the Motion Picture Association; Stephen Slivinski, Director of Budget Studies for the Cato Institute; Dr. John Berthoud, President of the National Taxpayers Union; Dr. Daniel Mitchell, McKenna Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Heritage Foundation; James Martin, Vice President of the Ironworker International Union; Lee Brown, Clinton's drug czar and former mayor of Houston, Texas; Milton Friedman, economist; Wayne Angell, former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the chief economist and senior managing director at Bear Stearns & Co.; and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Although I was not sure of this idea originally, I firmly believe that this system is the best alternative out there -- much better than the flat tax, which keeps the power to use political favor in the tax system. We were given essentially a flat tax in 1986 under Reagan. The tax rates were greatly reduced, and most deductions were eliminated or capped at very small amounts. Since then the code has been altered thousands of times to the point that it is just as messed up as it was before Reagan's reforms. The only way to end this dysfunctional system is to remove the income tax system for an easier, more fair and economically stimulating retail sales tax.

The Fair Tax has been proposed to Congress (HR 25 and S 25). It is now before the President's Tax Reform Commission. If you don't speak up ... you'll never be heard. So speak up.