Chairman’s Report - August 31, 2018

SUPPORT OF THE FAIRTAX HELPS DESANTIS TO VICTORY

Florida Agricultural Commissioner Adam Putnam was supposed to have an easy victory in the Florida gubernatorial primary.  According to a Miami Herald article entitled, “Adam Putnam was on a path to Governor’s Mansion. Then Trump and DeSantis happened.”, this was supposed to be the next step in Putnam’s brilliant political career. The article cited some reasons why:
 

• Through August 10th, Putnam had raised $38.8 million to DeSantis’ $17.6 million;
• Outspent DeSantis $21.9 million to $10.5 million in TV ads;
• Was endorsed by most of the leading Florida Republicans;
• Was known around the state and was personable and well-respected.

Polls in June showed Putnam had a 20 point lead.  However, the path to the Florida governor’s mansion was ended on August 28, 2018 by the 1.5 million Florida voters who gave DeSantis a victory of 56% of the vote to Putnam’s 37%.  

Much of the margin of victory was directly attributable to President Trump’s endorsement of DeSantis.  Once he endorsed DeSantis, the race changed and DeSantis pulled even in the polls and then ahead of Putnam.

As discussed in last week’s report, Mr. Putnam decided to attack Mr. DeSantis for supporting the FAIRtax.  Mr. Putnam’s team started running an ad on television and sending out mailings attacking Congressman Ron DeSantis because he supported the FAIRtax.

The ad and the flyer were full of erroneous data about the FAIRtax.  The intent was to imply that the FAIRtax would raise all prices by 23%, destroy Florida tourism, destroy families and basically destroy Florida. 

One political consultant with whom I spoke said that the social media comments on this ad were the most negative for any candidate’s ad that he had ever seen.  He said that almost every one of the comments pointed out that this was an ad that was just not true and that they were switching their support to Mr. DeSantis.   Far from helping Mr. Putnam, the FAIRtax attack ads were driving people away from Mr. Putnam to support Mr. DeSantis. The ads were pulled.
 
Some political operatives have estimated that the negative FAIRtax ads may have helped account for up to 10% of Mr. DeSantis’ victory margin. 

CONCLUSION

Some Members of Congress have expressed concern about becoming co-sponsors of the FAIRtax because their election opponent might distort the facts about the FAIRtax and scare enough voters for them to be defeated.  While any position that might offend a portion of the electorate can certainly change the outcome of a close election, a position that is supported by a portion of the electorate can provide victory in a close election.
 
What is important about the negative impact caused by the Putnam ad was that it signifies that enough people now understand the FAIRtax and when lies are told about it, they recognize it.  They logically wonder how anyone can oppose such a commonsense idea.  They also draw the logical conclusion that if someone is going to distort and lie about the FAIRtax, then how can you trust anything else they are saying?
 
The FAIRtax empowers all of us and puts each of us in charge of how much money we have for consumption.  The FAIRtax also ensures that our economy will continue to prosper and our children and grandchildren will have the opportunity that we wish for all Americans.

WHAT CAN EACH OF US DO


Call up the local or D.C. offices of your House Member and two Senators and you can use the following script:

• I am sure that Representative ____ or Senator ____ is in favor of everyone obeying the income tax laws.
• After they assure you that their boss is not in favor of anyone breaking the law, ask if they are aware of the Cebula study showing $9 trillion of evaded income/payroll taxes over the next ten years.
• Since most will say they don’t believe their boss has seen the study, either drop off a copy or get an email address and send a copy to them for their boss.
• Say you are going to call back in a week and ask what the Representative or Senator is going to do to stop this evasion.
• In a week, call back and ask specifically what the Representative or Senator is going to do to enforce the law.
• They probably will say their boss believes that simplifying the income tax will handle the problem.
• Explain that when people evade income taxes, they are also evading the 15.3% payroll/Medicare tax and state income tax.  So it is unlikely that they are going to pay 30% or 40% when they were paying 0% because they have already decided it is okay to cheat.
• Say that the only way to reduce evasion is to increase by tens or hundreds of thousands the number of comprehensive IRS audits done each year.
• Point out that Evaders do not self-identify by putting an “E” on their income tax return.
• 80% of the people likely to be audited are trying to comply, but they will be forced to endure these IRS audits as well.
• Ask if the Member is in favor of this?
• If they say no, then ask again how the Member proposes to stop people breaking the income tax laws.
• Then explain that the way to handle evasion without unleashing the IRS audits is the FAIRtax.

If you can see your Member or attend a town hall and ask these questions, you can be even more effective. 
 

#123 RIGHT TO THE SOURCE - INTERVIEWING STEVE HAYES
The FAIRtax Guys go right to the source and interview Steve Hayes, Pres. of AFFT. An information packed episode of FTPR with calls and comments from across the country.

Steve has a long history of promoting a consumption tax over the income tax dating back to the early 1990’s.  Listen, watch and benefit from his nearly 30 years of presentations and lobbying to make life in American much more simple and fair by scrapping the hideous federal income tax and replacing it with the FAIRtax. A great episode worthy of sharing with all your friends and relatives.   
 
A lady by the name of Pandora said: “Get a woman on the panel. They like the Fair Tax too.”  We agree and if you check out our PAST EPISODES, you’ll find two with FAIRtax Elaine filling in for Bob while he was out of town. Wondering what else we talked about in past episodes?  Each episode is saved as both video on Facebook or Xcluded.tv and as a podcast on Spreaker, iTunes and iHeart Radio.  Watch or listen later - or any time!

Be sure to inform everyone you know about the new digital TV FAIRtax Power Radio.  Watch every Wednesday at 11:30 AM (ET).  We are streaming to Facebook LIVE (www.facebook.com/fairtax).  If you’re not a fan of Facebook, you can watch FAIRtax Power Radio on xcluded.tv at the same broadcast time - or any time.  

FTPR podcasts for each show are posted on Spreaker (http://bit.ly/2oesbk7), iTunes & iHeart Radio every Friday morning.  A free FAIRtax Power Radio app is available for iOS and Android.  Since it’s a podcast, you can download it and play it whenever it’s convenient for you.

The Facebook videos are saved to a number of pages:
FAIRtax Official (https://www.facebook.com/FairTax/) 
The FAIRtax Guys (https://www.facebook.com/thefairtaxguys/) 
Democrats for FAIRtax (https://www.facebook.com/DemocratsForFairTax/)
and many others. 

Xcluded.tv is a subscription based site which costs $30 per year and features a number of other shows along with FTPR with no commercial interruption. 

Be a part of this cutting edge news/talk show featuring The FAIRtax Guys. WITH YOUR HELP, WE WILL GET THIS DONE.  It is the American people who must demand REAL tax reform in Congress.  Your FAIRtax volunteers are trying their best to inform American citizens about the FAIRtax!  Please help us.

Tune into our video broadcast each Wednesday.  If you prefer, you can listen to the podcast of the show later.  You can listen to FTPR on any platform - Mac or PC, iPhone or Android. And it’s 100% free.  Listen on Spreaker.com (http://bit.ly/2oesbk7), iTunes (http://apple.co/1Te8VdF) or iHeart Radio (http://bit.ly/2eqEG7y) on your computer or smartphone.  The easiest way to listen to FTPR on your smartphone is by downloading the free FTPR app.  Just search for “FAIRtax Power Radio” in your app store, download the app and start listening.  

Remember, FTPR digital TV every Wednesday at 11:30 AM (ET) followed by the podcast on Friday morning.  Please listen and tell everyone you know about the FAIRtax Power Radio.  The FAIRtax: Once You Understand It, You’ll Demand It!

A GREAT WAY TO INTRODUCE NEWBIES TO THE FAIRTAX - AMERICA’S BIG SOLUTION​

America’s Big Solution is a basic introduction to the FAIRtax and is meant for people of any age.  And you can download it to your tablet or smartphone right now.  Also available in print form.  See below.

Do you know someone who would like an introduction to the FAIRtax and would prefer to read about it in a booklet rather than search online for Tweets, Posts and Shares?  If so, America’s Big Solution is their best choice.

America’s Big Solution is an introduction to the FAIRtax written by Terry Tibbetts, author of A Spartan Game: The Life and Loss of Don Holleder, with help from Ron Maiellaro, President of the Florida FAIRtax Educational Association.  

You can buy an electronic version of ABS as follows:  AMERICA’S BIG SOLUTION is available for only $2.99 for the Amazon Kindle (http://amzn.to/1WIRHry), the Barnes & Noble Nook (http://bit.ly/1XeG8bH) and Apple iOS (http://apple.co/1tnqK0P).  

You can purchase a print copy at the same Amazon link above for $9.25.  Regardless of whether you choose the electronic format or the print format, you’ll find AMERICA’S BIG SOLUTION will give someone the boost they need to begin their study of the FAIRtax and the suggested resources to learn more. Buy AMERICA’S BIG SOLUTION now!

LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION

These links will help you promote and support the FAIRtax, make yourself familiar with the links below. We always do our best to keep our AFFT community up to date, and you can stay ahead of the curve using these convenient sites.

• The website of Americans for Fair Taxation (www.fairtax.org)
• Read the Summary of the Evasion Study. 
• Welcome to the Online FAIRtax Community  (member.fairtax.org) 
• The website at which you can help make it happen. (www.bigsolution.org)
• The Facebook page for Americans for Fair Taxation 
• The Facebook page for The FAIRtax Guys 
• The Twitter page for Americans for Fair Taxation 
• PopVox - Connecting people and lawmakers for more effective participation and better governing 
• YouTube channel for AFFT 
• YouTube channel for The FAIRtax Guys
• The Official FAIRtax Logo Store (www.fairtaxlogostore.org)
• Xcluded.tv - A new platform for FAIRtax Power Radio Video and other shows.

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Thank you for staying FAIRtax strong!