Our group of FAIRtax advocates were greatly saddened by the loss of Ron Maiellaro, the man in the redshirt in the picture below. Ron was a great friend, a great supporter of the FAIRtax but of more importance to Ron—a great family man.
Ron served as President of Florida FairTax Educational Association but will be most remembered by FAIRtax supporters as the co-host of FAIRtax Power Radio. Bob Paxton his co-host has written about what it was like working with Ron.
“Hello, welcome to FAIRtax Power Radio I’m Bob Paxton…and I’m Ron Maiellaro…and we are THE FAIRTAX GUYS!”
That’s a greeting that FAIRtax Power Radio listeners have heard for over six years. It has reverberated across internet radio, a number of social media platforms and even terrestrial broadcast stations. Unfortunately, it’s a greeting that’s been uttered for the last time. My dear friend Ron Maiellaro went home to his eternal reward on Thursday morning, August 26, 2021.
When Steve asked me to write a tribute piece for Ron, I tried to think back to the first time I met him. I couldn’t do it. I can’t remember when or how our paths crossed. It’s as if Ron has been a part of my life from the moment I retired and decided that I wanted to devote some of my newly found free time to promoting the FAIRtax.
I don’t remember when or where, but I do remember being welcomed into the Marion County FAIRtax volunteer group with open arms. I remember Ron’s infectious laugh and wry sense of humor. But most of all, I remember his dogged determination to obliterate the income tax, exterminate the IRS and return some degree of sanity to how taxation is done in this country.
I began to accompany Ron and his wife Elaine to FAIRtax presentations they would give to various local groups. It wasn’t long before I was standing by Ron’s side rather than sitting in the audience. He was from New York, and I was from North Carolina. Still, the chemistry between the Yankee and the Southern boy blossomed almost immediately.
Then came the call from Leading Edge Radio Network, an internet radio station based in Texas. They had posted a message to Facebook looking for people willing to provide them with “patriotic” content. I answered the post asking if they’d be interested in a weekly 30-minute program promoting the FAIRtax.
When they said yes, FAIRtax Power Radio was born in my head and I knew exactly what I wanted it to sound like.
Now I spent most of my working career as a computer programmer, but I’ve always been fascinated with radio. I landed my first job as a DJ when I was still in high school and spent nearly the first decade of my working life spinning country records at several different radio stations. Of course, this was back in the day when radio stations were run by real people, not computers.
Ron, on the other hand, was a science teacher. He always claimed that the only thing he knew about radio was how to turn one on. Still, he saw this as a great opportunity to spread the word about the FAIRtax and readily accepted my invitation to co-host the show.
In the beginning, Ron would drive across the county to my house and we’d record the program in my home radio studio. In spite of his claims to the contrary, Ron seemed to be a natural at it.
The evolution of FAIRtax Power Radio is a topic for another day, but in all the years we worked as partners, we never used a script. Of course, we had an outline of the topics we wanted to cover and often referred to published articles from other sources, but our interactions were always ad-libbed and Ron never missed a beat. For someone who claimed to know nothing about radio, Ron was pretty darn good at it.
I like to think that it was this unscripted spontaneity that caught the ear of a young CPA in Colorado and piqued his interest in the FAIRtax. He sent us a “short note” (three pages, single spaced). Long story short, we became friends with this young professional, and now he sits on the board of the national group Americans for Fair Taxation. Ron and I always agreed that helping to bring Jade Walle into the FAIRtax movement was our most significant success.
Which brings me to the events of recent weeks. Little did I know at the time that the FTPR episode of August 3, 2021 would be our last one together. The following week, Ron said he was sick, and arranged for Jade to co-host that week’s program by videoconference. Neither of us thought a great deal about it.
But the next week, Ron was still sick and Elaine stepped in as co-host. Ditto for the following week. By then, Ron was in the hospital, but no one had any idea what was coming. The reports we were getting said that it was going to be a slow recovery, but that Ron was getting better.
Then on the morning of August 26, I get the shocking text from Elaine. Ron had passed away and would I please inform the board of the Florida FAIRtax Educational Association.
Fast forward to Wednesday, September 1. I knew when I walked into the chapel for Ron’s funeral that there would be some FAIRtax people there, but that I’d have to search them out in the crowd. Ron had a big family and lots of friends.
The one thing I didn’t expect was that the first familiar face I’d see would be Jade Walle’s. He had flown over two thousand miles to be there. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Ron’s just the kind of guy who would inspire someone to do that.
I’m not sure what FAIRtax Power Radio is going to look like moving forward. I have several options, but it’s going to take a few weeks to see how it all shakes out.
However, two things are certain. The program will go on. And although someone will eventually sit in his chair, Ron Maiellaro can never be replaced.
CONCLUSION
As Bob concludes, even after our movement loses someone like Ron, the movement must continue and will continue. To do anything else is not what Ron and numerous others like him who have tirelessly worked to helped pass the FAIRtax deserve.
What can each of us do?
We can write letters and make calls to our elected representatives demanding that if the government really wants to eliminate the burden of filing income tax returns, they should enact the FAIRtax and do away with tax returns altogether.
The great 18th century Irish statesman Edmund Burke made a statement that applies in many ways,
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
If you want to prevent the IRS from being further weaponized to punish those of us who may object to the D.C. opinions and dictates of what is good for us, then help us PASS THE FAIRTAX!
The IRS will be gone and we will pay our taxes when we make purchases. WE and not D.C. Elites will decide how much federal tax we pay!
If you have friends who don’t know about the FAIRtax, send them to FAIRtax.org. Have them watch the white boards under “How It Works” and, if they agree, ask them to please join us.
Then contact your Members of Congress and the President and demand that Congress pass -the FAIRtax—the only fair tax.
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.”
Is it hopeless? When confronted with a seemingly impossible problem, remember the statement attributed to the author George Bernard Shaw who wrote, You see things; and you say “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?”
Isn’t it time for us to ask, “Why not?”
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