Chairman’s Report - June 19, 2015

A Brief Recap of the Last Twelve Months

On June 13th of 2014, directors elected by the state FAIRtax organizations became the directors of Americans For Fair Taxation.  Like children at Christmas, the new directors eagerly explored this “gift” and found that there were many great assets but, alas, not a lot of money in the bank accounts.  Leo Linbeck III and Bob McNair generously provided a donation of $100,000 to the new AFFT, and this more than offset any existing liabilities and provided us with a much-needed source of revenue.

Of course, the greatest AFFT asset has always been its grassroots volunteers who tirelessly work to make the FAIRtax the law of the land.  This is why FAIRtax has 70 cosponsors in the House and seven cosponsors in the Senate.  It is also thanks to your efforts that more and more people on both sides of the aisle are starting to talk about how we must have “a consumption-based tax.”  

However, as we move forward we do have to confront that we must have funding in order to maintain the basic structure of the organization.  Unlike the boards of many similar organizations, our new board members were selected because of their FAIRtax activities and not because of the size of their bank accounts.  

It is also true that while wealthy people are willing to participate in special AFFT projects—like organizing Congressional districts---most of them want to see if our new AFFT organization really has the support of the grassroots.  To them, this means, “Will enough of the grassroots contribute so that the basic AFFT overhead is covered?”

It is for this reason that I urge you to read the following description of John Grafer’s efforts to help each state obtain 1040 Club members.

John Grafer, The 1040 Club And AFFT’s Financial Stability

John Grafer is a successful venture capitalist in Dallas who is an AFFT director and on the Executive Committee of AFFT.  He is incredibly busy with his company but still takes time, often at 11pm, to answer his emails and he never misses an Executive Committee meeting.

In the January board meeting in Nashville, it was decided that each state is to contribute a minimum of $6,900 per year to AFFT.   To help make this a reality, John is leading an effort for leaders in each state to recruit 56 people who will each commit to donate $10.40 per month to AFFT.  These donations will allow AFFT to know that it has a basic amount of monthly income, and this will also send the strongest message that the grassroots supports AFFT.
    
We also want to reward states and ensure that they are viable.  Once a state has obtained 56 members of the 1040 Club, all of the money from the next 56 members that it recruits will be allocated to the state to be used for state FAIRtax-related activities determined by the state leaders.  Once the number of 1040 club members exceeds 112 in a state, the 1040 contributions from each new member will be shared equally by AFFT and the state.

If you are not a member of the 1040 Club, or if you are a member but want to join for someone else, please go to this link and sign up.    If you want to help John’s group recruit members for the 1040 Club, please email Jessica.haug@fairtax.org.

Next Trip to D.C.

Peggy and I are now planning our next trip to D.C.  As we have said repeatedly, the offices of Members who consistently hear from constituents demanding that they investigate the FAIRtax are eager to meet.  We met with tax aides in Congressman McDermott’s (WA-07) and Congressman Reichert’s (WA-08) offices and both said that they don’t recall hearing from any constituents about the FAIRtax.  Both people were interested in what we said but stressed that we would have little interest from their Member until constituents called or wrote their local or D.C. office.

This doesn’t mean thousands or even hundreds of calls.  Often only a few dedicated callers and letter writers will place the FAIRtax on the list of issues that must be addressed by a Member of Congress.  Please make it a point to contact your U.S. Representative and the offices of your two U.S. Senators and ask them to support the FAIRtax.  When you hear back from them, take the opportunity to ask if the Member or Senator will meet with Peggy and me when we next come to DC.  

When they say yes, the Member or Senator will meet with us, please forward the name and contact information of the scheduling person to Peggy.Green-Ernst@fairtax.org.  This will allow us to educate the Member or Senator and address any concerns about the FAIRtax.  Lastly, if your U.S. Representative or U.S. Senator is a Democrat, we very much want to see them.  Once we start educating Democrats, much of the opposition to the FAIRtax will start to evaporate.

AFFT National LOGO Store Open for Business  

Last week, State directors received the new 2015-16 National FairTax Palm Cards from the new National Store.  The AFFT National Logo Store has new logo palm cards, hats, polo shirts, and tote bags with many new promotional items to follow weekly.  Please visit the AFFT National Logo Store at www.fairtaxlogostore.org.

Our special thanks to Rudy Treml for his countless hours of work to make this happen for all of us!!

FAIRtax Power Radio

FAIRtax Power Radio is the “on demand” show that plays when YOU want to listen.  Using your computer or smart phone, you can “watch” FAIRtax Power Radio by going to “The FAIRtax Guys” channel on YouTube.  There are over a dozen episodes plus an introduction by The FAIRtax Guys.  For audio only, another source for FTPR is SoundCloud.com; again search for “The FAIRtax Guys” to find the channel on www.soundcloud.com.  Both YouTube and SoundCloud have free apps for smart phones so you can listen whenever and wherever you wish.  Each episode is a half hour long.  Episode #1 talks about the need for REAL tax reform and continues to build the case with each episode in an informative yet entertaining way.  The goal is to offer a discussion of the most thoroughly researched tax reform proposal, the FAIRtax, and make it seem like a family discussion at the kitchen table.  Listen to the program and then tell your friends and relatives about the show.

Thank You For Opening The FAIRtax Chronicles, Our Sponsored Mailings 

We plan to do several of these mailings each month. If you take a minute to open the sponsored emails and click through to the website, you are making an in kind contribution to AFFT. It is not required to actually make a purchase, but your minute of time will ensure that AFFT is paid ever larger amounts from people paying for us to send their offers to our supporters.

Again, we are making every effort to ensure that we work with only reputable companies. If you feel that any FAIRtax-sponsored email is objectionable, please email us at info@fairtax.org and tell us why. You can also opt to not receive these sponsored email messages but still receive FAIRtax emails.
  
Thank you for staying FairTax strong!