The Chairman’s Report February 21st, 2025

As we read the DOGE reports of where some our tax dollars are being spent, many of us are horrified.  How could this happen?  That’s easy.  It happened because the people we put in charge, Congress and the past presidents, have allowed it to happen.

This column originally ran in the Orlando Sentinel on March 7, 1995. Charley Reese was a syndicated columnist. He was associated with the Orlando Sentinel from 1971 to 2001, both as a writer and in various editorial capacities. King Features Syndicate distributed his column, which was published three times per week.
Mr. Reese makes some great points as we watch the politicians and bureaucrats in D.C. try to blame someone else for the waste and fraud that is being revealed by DOGE.

Politicians, as I have often said, are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Everything on the Republican contract is a problem created by Congress. Too much bureaucracy? Blame Congress.

Too many rules? Blame Congress.

Unjust tax laws? Congress wrote them.

Out-of-control bureaucracy? Congress authorizes everything bureaucracies do.

Americans dying in Third World rat holes on stupid U.N. missions? Congress allows it.

The annual deficits? Congress votes for them.

The $4 trillion plus debt? Congress created it.

To put it into perspective just remember that 100 percent of the power of the federal government comes from the U.S. Constitution. If it’s not in the Constitution, it’s not authorized.

Then read your Constitution. All 100 percent of the power of the federal government is invested solely in 545 individual human beings. That’s all. Of 260 million Americans, only 545 of them wield 100 percent of the power of the federal government.

That’s 435 members of the U.S. House, 100 senators, one president and nine Supreme Court justices. Anything involving government that is wrong is 100 percent their fault.

I exclude the vice president because constitutionally he has no power except to preside over the Senate and to vote only in the case of a tie. I exclude the Federal Reserve because Congress created it and all its power is power Congress delegated to it and could withdraw it anytime it chooses to do so. In fact, all the power exercised by the 3 million or so other federal employees is power delegated from the 545.

All bureaucracies are created by Congress or by executive order of the president. All are financed and staffed by Congress. All enforce laws passed by Congress. All operate under procedures authorized by Congress. That’s why all complaints and protests should be properly directed at Congress, not at the individual agencies.

You don’t like the IRS? Go see Congress.

You think the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agency is running amok? Go see Congress.
Congress is the originator of all government problems and is also the only remedy available.

That’s why, of course, politicians go to such extraordinary lengths and employ world-class sophistry to make you think they are not responsible.

Anytime a congressman pretends to be outraged by something a federal bureaucrat does, he is in fact engaging in one big massive con job. No federal employee can act at all except to enforce laws passed by Congress and to employ procedures authorized by Congress either explicitly or implicitly.

Partisans on both sides like to blame presidents for deficits, but all deficits are congressional deficits. The president may, by custom, recommend a budget, but it carries no legal weight. Only Congress is authorized by the Constitution to authorize and appropriate and to levy taxes.

That’s what the federal budget consists of: expenditures authorized, funds appropriated and taxes levied.

Both Democrats and Republicans mislead the public. For 40 years Democrats had majorities and could have at any time balanced the budget if they had chosen to do so. Republicans now have majorities and could, if they choose, pass a balanced budget this year.

Every president, Democrat or Republican, could have vetoed appropriations bills that did not make up a balanced budget. Every president could have recommended a balanced budget. None has done either.

We have annual deficits and a huge federal debt because that’s what majorities in Congress and presidents in the White House wanted. We have troops in various Third World rat holes because Congress and the president want them there.

Don’t be conned. Don’t let them escape responsibility. We simply have to sort through 260 million people until we find 545 who will act responsibly.

CONCLUSION

Mr. Reese did a great job of placing the responsibility exactly where it should be—on Congress and the President.

Of course, the real responsible parties are the voters who continue to re-elect the same elected officials, over and over.  We re-elect these Members of Congress over 90% of the time.

However, President Trump is one of the 545 who has stated that he has the power and determination to hold Congress and the bureaucrats accountable.

This is a President that sees that the corrupt and incomprehensible income/payroll tax system has to be eliminated if America is once again going to be free and prosperous.

Many of you have labored tirelessly for freedom from the federal income tax and the IRS.  You deserve a great deal of credit for your efforts to educate the American people on the need to fund the American government in a way that is good for America and returns freedom to the American people.

It is imperative, though, that we don’t replace the current income tax and the IRS with an alternative system that can still be manipulated by the Ruling Elite.  We must let Congress and the President know that the best way to replace the income tax and the IRS is with the FAIRtax. 

Make no mistake about it.  The FAIRtax is a grave threat to the Ruling Elites.  It will strip them of their power and their ability to control us though the tax system.  Their opposition to the FAIRtax will be fierce and unrelenting.  And don’t think for an instant that they won’t use half-truths, deception and downright lies in their desperate attempt to hang on to their power. 

However, with the support of this President, we can finally eliminate the income tax and the IRS!!!

Of course, the best course of action is to not only repeal the income tax and abolish the IRS but to repeal the 16^th Amendment as well so no future administration can ever shackle the American people with an income tax again.

We must come together and ensure that real tax reform, the FAIRtax, is not subverted by the Elites in D.C.

This will take the diligent efforts of all of us.  We need your financial assistance, and we need your grass roots assistance.

If you have contacts that will allow us to get more information to President Trump about the FAIRtax please let us know.

Please email us at info@fairtax.org and we will give you some options on how you can best help us. 

At a minimum, please call your Congressional representative and ask if he or she supports the FAIRtax.  If so, thank him/her for their support and suggest they become a cosponsor of HR-25 if they’re not one already.  If not, ask why not.  If your representative claims to be unfamiliar with the FAIRtax, offer to have someone come to their office and explain it to them. 

Please go to this link to invest in AFFT and help us pass the FAIRtax.  It’s an investment in your and your family’s future. 

THE SOLUTION—PASS THE FAIRTAX!

Why would D.C. pass the FAIRtax and give up this almost unlimited source of donations?  The only way that they will is if the rest of us demand it!
   
Isn’t it time to end this ludicrous tax collection system and the IRS?

HELP BRING ABOUT REAL TAX REFORM AND STOP FUTURE IRS ABUSES

By contributing (investing) $10.40 per month, you help provide a financial base to AFFT.  If you can make larger contributions (investments), these will be used not for salaries, as we are all volunteers, but for the needed updates to our economic studies which will be vital for all future years.
 
Please go to this link to invest in AFFT and help us pass the FAIRtax.  It’s an investment in your and your family’s future.