Letter to the editor needs a response
A recent letter to the editor of The Brunswick News of Brunswick, Georgia, needs your response. Frank Cullen of St. Simons Island, Georgia, recently wrote a letter with the headline: "Seniors would bear the brunt of Fair Tax bill.” You can read the letter here:
https://thebrunswicknews.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/seniors-would-bear-the-brunt-of-fair-tax-bill/article_0c8e3e0a-b122-53a2-99f8-cc0f1beee2c7.html
To be perfectly clear here, Mr. Cullen is not talking about HR-25, the national level FAIRtax that would replace the federal income/payroll tax system. He’s talking about the state of Georgia’s plan to replace its state income tax with a consumption tax modeled after the national FAIRtax.
Mr. Cullen contends that if that happens, the tax would fall on seniors, who depend on income from Social Security, IRA and 401k withdrawals, and pensions. He points out that the Georgia income tax does not tax any of this income, but the FAIRtax would tax it all.
To begin with, Mr. Cullen is dead wrong on a really major point. The FAIRtax does not tax ANY income. Rather, it taxes consumption when people choose to spend their income. Nevertheless, Mr. Cullen concludes, “This is only a ‘Fair Tax’ if you think retired old people should pay more taxes.”
It is nice to see that people are talking about the FAIRtax in Glynn County, Georgia, where this newspaper circulates, even if it is unfavorable. However, no state equivalent of the FAIRtax is currently pending in the Georgia legislature. At year's beginning, our Georgia Director, Jim Duffie, reported that Georgia State Senator Colton Moore proposed a bill to eliminate the Georgia income tax in six years. That proposal was not a state-level FAIRtax bill. After intervening events, Moore turned away from that proposal and will now press the FAIRtax.
Last month, Grassroots Corner focused on defending attacks on the federal FAIRtax that allege it will hurt seniors. The lead point in that defense was that the FAIRtax will adjust Social Security benefits to compensate for any increase in the cost of living due to the reform.
That argument may not hold for a purely state-level bill, but the second point, which may be more pertinent to any Georgia FAIRtax bill, is that the Prebate is based on the cost of living. Any Georgia FAIRtax legislation will likely include a prebate. If the cost of living rises due to the Georgia FAIRtax, the Prebate will increase to meet the challenge. For married seniors, the prebate is more generous than the poverty allowance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on which the Prebate is based. Thus, the FAIRtax protects low-resource seniors.
Seniors who are better off still pay income tax if that income is not from Social Security, pensions, or IRA distributions.
Use this link to submit your letter to the editor of The Brunswick News: https://thebrunswicknews.com/site/forms/online_services/letter/letter_editor/
If you send a letter, I would love to read what you wrote.
https://thebrunswicknews.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/seniors-would-bear-the-brunt-of-fair-tax-bill/article_0c8e3e0a-b122-53a2-99f8-cc0f1beee2c7.html
To be perfectly clear here, Mr. Cullen is not talking about HR-25, the national level FAIRtax that would replace the federal income/payroll tax system. He’s talking about the state of Georgia’s plan to replace its state income tax with a consumption tax modeled after the national FAIRtax.
Mr. Cullen contends that if that happens, the tax would fall on seniors, who depend on income from Social Security, IRA and 401k withdrawals, and pensions. He points out that the Georgia income tax does not tax any of this income, but the FAIRtax would tax it all.
To begin with, Mr. Cullen is dead wrong on a really major point. The FAIRtax does not tax ANY income. Rather, it taxes consumption when people choose to spend their income. Nevertheless, Mr. Cullen concludes, “This is only a ‘Fair Tax’ if you think retired old people should pay more taxes.”
It is nice to see that people are talking about the FAIRtax in Glynn County, Georgia, where this newspaper circulates, even if it is unfavorable. However, no state equivalent of the FAIRtax is currently pending in the Georgia legislature. At year's beginning, our Georgia Director, Jim Duffie, reported that Georgia State Senator Colton Moore proposed a bill to eliminate the Georgia income tax in six years. That proposal was not a state-level FAIRtax bill. After intervening events, Moore turned away from that proposal and will now press the FAIRtax.
Last month, Grassroots Corner focused on defending attacks on the federal FAIRtax that allege it will hurt seniors. The lead point in that defense was that the FAIRtax will adjust Social Security benefits to compensate for any increase in the cost of living due to the reform.
That argument may not hold for a purely state-level bill, but the second point, which may be more pertinent to any Georgia FAIRtax bill, is that the Prebate is based on the cost of living. Any Georgia FAIRtax legislation will likely include a prebate. If the cost of living rises due to the Georgia FAIRtax, the Prebate will increase to meet the challenge. For married seniors, the prebate is more generous than the poverty allowance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on which the Prebate is based. Thus, the FAIRtax protects low-resource seniors.
Seniors who are better off still pay income tax if that income is not from Social Security, pensions, or IRA distributions.
Use this link to submit your letter to the editor of The Brunswick News: https://thebrunswicknews.com/site/forms/online_services/letter/letter_editor/
If you send a letter, I would love to read what you wrote.
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CALL FOR PICTURES AND WRITEUPS
We need more of you to send in pictures and news. If you have something to share, please send your material to me, jim.bennett@fairtax.org, (908) 578-4975, or fax (908) 598-2888. When others see your activity, they are inspired, and the process snowballs. When the process snowballs, Congress Members, Senators, and even the President start to listen.
CALL FOR PICTURES AND WRITEUPS
We need more of you to send in pictures and news. If you have something to share, please send your material to me, jim.bennett@fairtax.org, (908) 578-4975, or fax (908) 598-2888. When others see your activity, they are inspired, and the process snowballs. When the process snowballs, Congress Members, Senators, and even the President start to listen.
Jim Bennett
AFFT Grassroots Coordinator & Secretary🇺🇸 Call For Pictures & WriteUps - When others see your activity, they are inspired, the process snowballs and Representatives, Senators and, yes, even the President start to listen to you and me. Please send your material to me at Jim.Bennett@FAIRtax.org.
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