Since you took office, America’s economy has achieved record-breaking gains, we have regained our stature abroad as the leader of the free world, and American families are feeling confident about their own future and the future of our great nation for the first time in many years. With your leadership, we also enacted landmark tax relief for the American people as a result of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act. Thanks to this new law, taxpayers are keeping more of what they earn, businesses are investing and growing, and our nation is once again competitive in the global marketplace.
Now we urge you to consider supporting what we believe should be “Part Two” of our tax reform agenda—H.R. 25, the FairTax. The FairTax totally reimagines the way we fund our government by eliminating the IRS and collecting all our revenue through the cash register—like 45 states already do. The FairTax would act like jet fuel for our growing economy and allow American businesses to not just be competitive but to win against their foreign competition. Specifically, the FairTax would repeal all Federal corporate and individual income taxes, payroll taxes, self-employment taxes, capital gains taxes, the death tax, and gift taxes - and replace them with a revenue-neutral personal consumption tax. Overnight, the FairTax would allow individuals to keep 100% of their income without the government taking a penny up front. Overnight, we would eliminate the IRS from the lives of all American workers.
It is the most exciting tax proposal to ever come before the American people, and once you review it we believe you’ll agree. That’s because the FairTax isn't about simply taxes; it is about freedom, jobs, smaller government and the economy. It is about returning power to the people and sustaining America's economic growth. It is about stripping the Federal government of the opportunity to dig deeper and deeper in the American people's personal pocketbooks.
During the most recent debate over the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, we faced many incredibly difficult choices that the FairTax would render moot. Our legislation would eliminate lobbyist favors in the tax code, significantly reduce evasion, take care of low-income families much better than we do now, ensure illegal immigrants and underground economic activities are taxed, and get rid of the corporate tax rate—really a hidden consumer tax—and make sure our businesses and workers can focus on prosperity rather than paperwork.
The FairTax is a simple plan that people can understand, get excited about, and support 100% because it is a plan of hope. It is a plan to remove the heavy hand of government from your personal pocketbook and puts the American people back in charge of their finances. Our nation was founded on the fundamental concept of individual freedom, yet our current income tax system taxes hard work—stripping Americans of their incentive to work hard and pursue the American dream. The American people deserve better.
- Transparency: Under the FairTax, every American will pay the same percentage of tax on every new item they purchase. At a time when the popular political ploy pits one group against another and promises no pain but all gain, it could not be clearer that America needs the FairTax. The FairTax really is the only system that shows Americans clearly and concisely exactly how much money they are sending to the Federal government: 23% on every purchase of new goods and services. It is the only proposal to completely eliminate all loopholes, exceptions, and exemptions so that all Americans know their neighbor has just as much skin in the game as they do.
- Simplicity: Our current tax system is a bloated, convoluted mess that is designed to allow the Federal government power over the individual and their finances. The FairTax would immediately eliminate this misplaced power and put it back into the hands of individual Americans. The FairTax would eliminate the frustrating mess and hassle of exceptions, exemptions, deductions, and credits that Americans suffer through each April. Tax returns for individuals would be a thing of the past. Instead, the FairTax would place a simple 23% tax rate on the purchase of new goods and services that would be collected by the merchant.
- Fairness: Every American is treated the same under the FairTax. Every product and service is treated the same. No exceptions. To be fair to those who are down on their luck and cannot afford the tax, the FairTax provides that every American can purchase essential goods and services tax free up to the national poverty level through a tool called the prebate. A prebate would be a check from the Federal government sent to every registered family at the beginning of each month to cover the costs of basic living. The amount of the prebate that each family would receive would be based on the U.S. Health and Human Services report of the Federal poverty level, estimated at the beginning of each year. This estimate would determine just how much money a family needs to meet their basic living expenses, and these expenses would be made totally tax free.
- Freedom: By eliminating all the manipulative provisions from the Internal Revenue Code, we would establish a system that allows for complete freedom for each and every individual, regardless of his economic status. We would abolish all of the power that Congress has today to manipulate you through the tax code, and we would transfer that power to the individual, from whom it was stolen and to whom it rightfully belongs.
When the Joint Committee on Taxation in Congress studied what would happen if a national consumption tax were implemented, economists from the far left to the far right agreed that the American economy would grow faster under a true consumption tax system than it does today. The promise of the FairTax is an American economy that can continue to grow and thrive in the 21st century, and no president has truly pursued repealing and replacing our tax code with a plan as historic and transformative as the FairTax; our hope is that you will be the president that takes the mantle and delivers permanent, unprecedented relief for the American people.
Sincerely,
