Let’s conduct a brief historical review. First, as a retired high school science teacher, I am struck by the vast differences when one considers American history as compared to geological history. For instance, the Declaration of Independence was signed 241 years ago. The Appalachian mountains were formed 480 million years ago. The Rocky Mountains were formed between 80 million and 55 million years ago. So the history of America as a sovereign nation is less than the blink of an eye when compared to the geological history of our land mass. But consider what has happened in that blink of an eye.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third Presidents of the United States, both died on July 4, 1826 - exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration. In our fledgling country in 1826 horsepower was provided primarily by horses, water and wind. Wagons and coaches were drawn by horses. Ships were constructed of wood and powered by the wind. The wood for ships, houses and other buildings was cut by water powered saw mills.
Steam power was not much more than a novelty and did not provide usable, reliable power for a number of decades. In internal combustion engine did not exist. There was no “tap water.” Electricity was a curiosity at best and known only as lightning or a static shock.
Alexis de Tocqueville was a French diplomat and historian who traveled extensively in the United States after Adams’ and Jefferson’s deaths. He wrote the two volumed 'Democracy in America' in which he noted the improving living standards and social conditions of the American people. The United States was different; different because the Declaration and our Constitution created, for the first time on our planet, a government based on individual sovereignty. And individuals in America thrived.
By the end of the 19th Century, less than 75 years after Presidents Adams and Jefferson died, the country was becoming accustom to self propelled automobiles with gasoline engines, massive self propelled ships with steel hulls, steam powered factories and mills and the all important indoor plumbing. And with all this came a huge increase in what we now call the middle class.
In the next century we saw the development of readily available electrical power followed by a myriad of electrical appliances and tools, airplanes both as weapons of war and for commercial use, atomic power, rockets that went to the moon and planets, radio, television and computer technology that today is both exciting and a challenge to keep up with. America had become the lone super power among nations.
And there is one important difference. Recently we’ve heard that the middle class is shrinking. In the past decade, our political leaders used phrases such as “leading from behind.” They openly doubted American exceptionalism and some talked about “America in decline.”
Meanwhile, our income tax code grew more complex every day Congress was in session. Special interests bought their special carve outs as they hired expensive lobbyists to schmooze members of Congress. The IRS became even more of a threat to individual liberty.
Does anyone believe that all these 20th century developments noted above came about because of the 16th Amendment, the imposition of a tax on earnings and a tax code of tens of thousands of pages enforced by an agency that has been tainted by numerous scandals? The tax code imposes a huge burden on small businesses and it is small businesses that create the majority of American jobs. It is easy to believe that there is a link between the burgeoning tax code, a bloated government enforcement bureaucracy and the shrinking of the middle class.
Are we ready to repeal the 16th Amendment? Are we ready to return simplicity and fairness to our tax code? Are we ready to eliminate the IRS and thereby restore personal liberties? Are we ready to let the collective genius of the American people restore the middle class? Are we ready to end the stranglehold of the lobbyists on our Washington legislators. Are we ready for an exceptional tax code instead of the byzantine disaster that is our current income tax?
Is the United States of America ready for the FAIRtax? Absolutely!
Obviously I believe, along with thousands of FAIRtax volunteers across the country, that our country is ripe for such a bold change. But whereas the FAIRtax will greatly benefit the citizens of our country, it is the citizens who must demand it loudly and assertively from their elected representatives.
Look to the Chairman’s Report to see what you can do to bring about REAL tax reform. Learn more. Get involved. Make it happen! Don’t just sit there - do it!
After returning from duty in Vietnam with the Navy, Ron Maiellaro spent the next 25 years in public education as a high school science teacher and administrator. After leaving education and New York State, Ron and his wife Elaine bought a commercial truck (an expediter) and drove team together for five years. At this point they bought additional trucks and leased them out to people to help them get started in the expedited freight business. While spending many hours behind the wheel, he would occasionally listen to Neal Boortz describe the FAIRtax. Ron read the first FAIRtax book by Boortz and Linder and was immediately hooked. Along with his work on the Board of Directors of the Florida FairTax Educational Association, Ron is one of The FAIRtax Guys in the weekly podcast of FAIRtax Power Radio on Spreaker, iTunes and iHeart Radio. It is Ron’s goal to work for passage of the FAIRtax so his grandchildren never have to deal with the federal income tax or the IRS.