Since 2006, I have backed a fair and simpler tax code that is the FAIRtax and continue that dedication as an original co-sponsor of the Fair Tax Act of 2015 (H.R. 25). To date, 72 co-sponsors have signed onto Congressman Rob Woodall’s (GA-7) bill. Enacting this common-sense plan requires team work. You can help by reaching out to those Members of Congress who have yet to join us!
The easy-to-understand FAIRtax would wipe out 10 million words of tax statutes and regulations and loopholes and leave in place a transparent national sales tax on goods and services administered primarily by the states. Federal income taxes and the FICA payroll tax would be eliminated, and the Internal Revenue Service would no longer be needed.
The poor are protected and everyone is treated equally: no exemptions, no exclusions, no advantages. Americans would be allowed to keep their entire paycheck and spend hard-earned dollars on ways that best suit them. On the business side, labor costs are lowered by eliminating payroll taxes, allowing companies to hire more workers.
Here are some more specifics about H.R. 25 that you can share along the way as you help push the FAIRtax further in Congress:
• Transparency: Under a FAIRtax, every American would pay the same percentage of tax on every new item they purchase. It really is the only system that details exactly how much money is being sent to the Federal government in taxes: 23% of every purchase of new goods and services. And, it is the only proposal to completely eliminate all loopholes, exceptions, and exemptions.
• Simplicity: Our current tax system 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 where it belongs. The FAIRtax would eliminate exceptions, exemptions, deductions, and credits that Americans must handle each and every tax season. 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.
• American Dream: The FAIRtax gives all Americans the power to reach for the American Dream by boosting economic growth and creating jobs. Hard-working Americans would keep their entire salary and pay taxes on their terms.
• Freedom: By eliminating all the complex provisions from the Internal Revenue Code, we would establish a system that allows complete freedom for each and every individual, regardless of economic status.
We’ve got some more work to do. I am up for it, and I know you are too. Citizens know best how to spend their money and deserve to keep more of it for their futures. They don’t need to be spending more time to find more money to send to Washington to fund big-government programs.
For the sake of a sound financial future for everyone, Congress needs to move forward and pass the FAIRtax. Please pass the word along. There is no time to waste!
#####
Congressman Ander Crenshaw represents Florida’s 4th congressional district, serving since 2001. Crenshaw is a member of the Appropriations Committee, where he chairs the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, and serves on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee as well as the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee. Prior to coming to Congress, Crenshaw worked both in the private sector, as an investment banker, and served as an elected official in the State Legislature, where he became President of the Senate.