FAKE TAX REFORM AND HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
In 1837, Hans Christian Andersen wrote a fable entitled The Emperor’s New Clothes. The Emperor really didn't care about his people but only about getting new clothes to show off to the people in his court and to his subjects.
One day, some people who said they were master clothes makers came to the Emperor's kingdom and got an audience with the Emperor. They assured him that they could weave the most magnificent fabrics imaginable and from these make clothes so grand that they were unsurpassed. They also promised that their clothes had a remarkable ability to help the Emperor discover who was intelligent. When worn, their clothes became invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.
The Emperor loved this idea because he could tell who was stupid and who was not. He paid these people a large sum of money to start work at once. They pretended to weave the cloth but nothing was on their looms. When people came to see the new fabrics, they saw nothing but because they did not want to appear stupid they acted like the fabrics were beautiful.
When the Emperor went to see the fabrics which weren't there, the Emperor didn't want to seem stupid so he exclaimed about the beauty of the fabric. All of his court exclaimed about how beautiful the fabric was and how it will make excellent clothes.
The next day the weavers brought clothes for the Emperor and pretended to put them on him.
The Emperor turned around and though he only had on a few pieces of underwear, all of his court raved about his beautiful clothes. Then the Emperor went outside to walk through the streets of his capital and show off his new clothes.
His people had been told that only stupid people could not see the clothes so all along the way people raved about how great were the new clothes. But a small child saw the Emperor and loudly proclaimed, "But he hasn't got anything on." Suddenly, people began repeating the same phrase and before long all of the "common" people were saying the same thing.
However, the Emperor and his court refused to accept the truth and, ignoring the crowds of people laughing at the Emperor's lack of clothes, they went on with the parade and all refused to admit that the Emperor had no clothes.
Fake Tax Reform and Real Tax Reform
The President and the tax writing committees set forth many sensible problems that they wanted to remedy. Let's be fair, Congress passed a tax bill that will provide tax savings to many Americans mainly through the doubling of the standard deduction, and lowered the corporate tax rate. However, like the Emperor who knew he had no clothes but persisted in insisting that he had clothes, Congressional leaders are trying to convince us that they really did reform--even though many of the changes are temporary.
However, they are assuming that by saying it is really tax reform that the public will not trust their own common sense but believe that, like the Emperor who refused to acknowledge he had no clothes, all they have to do is keep promoting their ideas and we, who are not as smart as they, will accept it.
Even the most casual observer knows:
- If reducing the corporate tax rate to 21% will make us more competitive, reducing it to zero will be multiple times better;
- Despite the crumbs thrown to us, it is still a corrupt system riddled with advantages for special interests who are only interested in what helps them and not the bad effect on the rest of us;
- The new tax plan will create even more of a budget deficit and federal debt--the argument is only over how much it will create;
- The new tax plan creates more complexity and not less;
- Evasion will likely be even higher than $9 trillion over the next decade;
- Most of the reforms are "temporary" to ensure that the Swamp will continue to extort money from special interests;
Conclusion
Like the people surrounding the Emperor with no clothes, the Swamp keeps telling Members of Congress that all of their "fake" reforms are really good for America. Since many Members of Congress have concluded that their constituents really don't have the necessary information and anyone that criticizes their actions is just not intelligent enough to understand. When someone is ensuring that you and your party receive large donations for re-elections, why would you not listen to them? They must be intelligent because they recognize how intelligent you are.
Abraham Lincoln knew the "common" man because he rose from their ranks. He famously said, "You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
It is time that we let our representatives know that they are not our rulers but our servants and we see what they are doing and demand that they do their job of representing us. Maybe the best way to demonstrate this is simply pass the FAIRTAX!
The truth is the truth. Remember, if we don't continue to tell the truth and demand a change, then this quote from George Orwell's 1984 may foretell our children's future:
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”
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.
TAX FRAUD - INCOME TAX VS. FAIRTAX
FAIRTAX POWER RADIO EPISODE #91
Ignoring the huge problem with the current income tax, a few people have warned about fraud with a consumption tax. The FAIRtax Guys discuss in detail why a consumption tax is much less vulnerable to fraud than today's income tax. With facts and figures, they explain how difficult it is to defraud a sales tax and the provisions in the FAIRtax bill to deal with those that might try. They also remind us of the astronomical fraud figures of the current income tax and how much it is costing each of us. When it comes to fraud, the income tax is the clear winner.
Last week The FAIRtax Guys explained why the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017” does not signal the end of the FAIRtax. Instead, they discussed “The Path Forward.” With the new law, we still have an income tax, the IRS and withholding. Congress still can play class warfare via the tax code and they still allow the IRS to ignore our Bill of Rights. Evasion is still a huge problem and Congressional tinkering with the tax code continues even to this day. Actually very little has changed and we need the FAIRtax more than ever. Listen to The FAIRtax Guys put the meat on the bones of these arguments in favor of the FAIRtax.
Remember: Tax Relief Today, Tax Reform Tomorrow.
HELP THE FAIRTAX GUYS EDUCATE OTHERS ABOUT REAL TAX REFORM. Telling your friends and relatives about our free weekly podcasts is a great way to help us garner more support. It is the American people who must demand REAL tax reform in Congress. We must inform America about the FAIRtax! Please help us.
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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. If you have trouble finding our free app, download the free Spreaker app.
We post a new episode every Friday morning. Please listen and tell everyone you know about the FAIRtax Power Radio.
The FAIRtax: Once You Understand It, You’ll Demand It!
AMERICA’S BIG SOLUTION - AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FAIRTAX
America’s Big Solution is a basic introduction to the FAIRtax and is meant for people of any age. Do you know someone who would like an introduction to the FAIRtax and would prefer to read about it rather than search online for Tweets, Posts and Shares? If so, America’s Big Solution is your 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
- The Official FAIRtax Logo Store (www.fairtaxlogostore.org)