We Need a Pro-Growth, Pro-Opportunity, and Pro-Taxpayer Tax Code
kenishirotie
This is the title of remarks made by U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight, Here are some of his statements:
- Taxes, of course, have a huge impact on our economy and our capacity for prosperity.
- The more individuals and businesses pay to the government in taxes, the less money they have to save, spend, and grow.
- And you would think that everyone would be able to agree that our tax system should promote both individual prosperity and economic growth.
- The Democrats regard tax policy not as a way to help secure economic prosperity, but as a way to collect that money so that they can follow through on their plans for new and ever-expanding government programs.
- Republicans’ primary interest when it comes to tax policy is not about how to bring in more money for the federal government; it’s about how to help our economy grow to expand prosperity for all.
- We believe that tax policy should be pro-growth, pro-opportunity, and pro-taxpayer.
- After the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
- incomes grew.
- Unemployment fell to a 50-year low.
- The poverty rate fell to the lowest level ever recorded.
- Business investment increased.
- Black Americans and Hispanic Americans saw record-low rates of poverty and record-high increases in income.
- The income gap narrowed.
- And contrary to what some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would have you believe, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act also helped increase revenues to the federal government.
- In short, tax reform helped create an economic environment for American businesses and American taxpayers to prosper – with some of the biggest benefits going to lower- and middle-income Americans.
- We don’t need a pro-government tax code.
- We need a pro-growth, pro-opportunity, pro-taxpayer tax code.
Senator Thune, FAIRtax supporters who read your remarks may think you are stating your support for the FAIRtax.
The FAIRtax is superior to the income tax in addressing every one of the points you made.
Economists agree that if you really want to see increased economic growth in the U.S., eliminate the income/payroll tax and replace it with a consumption tax.
If you really want to see Americans be more competitive in the global market, then pass the FAIRtax. Our present income/payroll tax system subsidizes imports and puts American manufacturers at a price disadvantage vs. their foreign competitors. The FAIRtax completely levels the playing field.
Surely you’re not a fan of hiring an army of new IRS agents that will harass and pursue middle class taxpayers and small businesses. That approach won’t even put a dent in the rapidly growing income/payroll tax evasion. By its very nature, the FAIRtax will reduce evasion substantially—because 90% of new retail goods are sold by less than 10% of retailers.
CONCLUSION
By describing the benefits of a sane federal tax system, Senator Thune is making a strong case for the FAIRtax. He is issuing this proclamation because he knows the income/payroll tax system. He knows how complicated, unstable and unfair the income tax is. He understands the damage it does to the American economy. He knows that an ever-changing tax code makes it impossible for businesses and individuals to plan ahead.
He knows that a provision in the federal income tax code is not like a contract that can be relied on for the future. No, it can be changed at any time.
All of the companies that committed funds to research and development (R&D) projects when the federal income tax code allowed a 100% deduction in the year spent learned this lesson the hard way.
Congress changed the law to only allow R&D expenses to be amortized over five years—20% a year. This means that if a small business owner spent $100,000 on R&D in 2022, he/she can only deduct $20,000 from their income and have to pay federal income tax on the remaining $80,000.
The clear lesson is that the lobbyists for the R&D industry did not do a good job—contribute enough money to Congress.
Of course, this tax change primarily harms the smaller companies who operate as entities where the income or loss is paid directly by the owners.
Senator Thune is part of the Republican leadership in the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, while many in DC routinely attack the tax policy coming from the other side of the aisle, no one from either side is seriously questioning the need to retain the income/payroll tax system.
Both sides are united in their desire to keep the income/payroll tax system in place because both sides relish the power and control it gives them when they are in the majority and get to write the rules. And of course, both sides fill their campaign war chests by selling favorable tax treatment to special interests.
When someone attacks the FAIRtax, ask them about some of the above issues with the income/payroll tax system?
Ask them to explain why a system with all of these problems should not be changed?
Isn’t it time to end this ludicrous tax collection system and the IRS?
When the FAIRtax is enacted, there will be no need to fear being audited by the IRS because there will be no more IRS.
Under the FAIRtax, there will be no more tax returns. We will pay our taxes when we make retail purchases of new goods and services.
There is going to be a vote on the FAIRtax in the House of Representatives. McCarthy and the other elites didn’t want it, but it was forced on them.
We now have the opportunity to force all Members of the House to show where they stand. They can:
- Vote for the present income/payroll tax system or for the FAIRtax.
- Support the corrupt income tax and the IRS or eliminate it. It can’t be any simpler than that.
- Hide the true cost of their government or pass the FAIRtax and show everyone the true cost of government on each retail receipt.
- Support the largest transfer of power from government to the people, the FAIRtax, or not.
Please stand with us and demand that your representative support a much fairer, much simpler and much more efficient way to fund the government—the FAIRtax!
The FAIRtax doesn’t pick winners and losers. Because it taxes spending, not earnings, the FAIRtax lets everyone save for their retirement tax free.
The FAIRtax collects the revenue that the federal government needs to operate but does it in a way that has the least impact on our individual freedom and the least impact on our economic prosperity.
There are no tax returns to file and no records to keep. We pay our federal taxes when we make retail purchases of new goods and services, and there is no need for the IRS. If you sell a used couch or used jet ski online, there is no FAIRtax due on that transaction.
The FAIRtax will allow us to TAKE BACK CONTROL.
The income/payroll tax system is broken and no longer working—we can’t repair it but we can replace it with the FAIRTAX!
Join us and TAKE BACK CONTROL OF OUR COUNTRY AND OUR LIVES—NOT WITH BULLETS BUT WITH THE ELIMINATION OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST THREATS TO OUR LIBERTY AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY—THE INCOME/PAYROLL TAX.
We all should remember Edmund Burke’s warning that applies to our efforts to TAKE BACK CONTROL,
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
We should also remember this quote from George Orwell's 1984, which, if we do nothing, may foretell your and your children's future:
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”
WHAT CAN EACH OF US DO?
We can write letters and make calls to our elected representatives and attend Zoom town hall meetings demanding that if they really want to allow Americans to “TAKE BACK CONTROL”, the first step is to eliminate the income/payroll tax system and enact the FAIRTAX!
TAKE BACK CONTROL! Help us PASS THE FAIRTAX!
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