MEET OUR NEW FAIRTAX STATE DIRECTOR, WILL WORSHAM
Missouri has a new State Director and a revitalized organization. Meet Attorney Will Worsham from Rogersville, near Springfield in the Southwest corner of the state.
Will became aware of the FAIRtax about 20 years ago. The idea interested him, but he never really did much with it. He learned more through the “Lunch and Taxes” video series published on fairtax.org. You can also view these videos at the conclusion of every FAIRtax Power Radio episode.
More recently, friends started asking Will how to vote. Will drew on his conviction that to fix the current direction of country, we have to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Not many people realized it at the time, but when it was ratified in 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment was a seismic power shift. Will argues that it transferred a massive amount of power from the states to the federal government. With the ability to manipulate an income tax, the federal government now had a powerful way to punish those it disfavored and reward those it favored.
With this power in mind, Will recalls a friend who is a state legislator posing the question, if the Sixteenth Amendment is repealed, how will the national government be funded without an income tax? Will’s first blush response was that finding something to take its place is not his problem. The income tax is simply malicious, and anything, including nothing, would be better. Will’s friend was not as strident and reminded him that there is the FAIRtax proposal that fixes the problem. Will thought, “Yeah, it really does.” Acting on that thought, Will set up a Zoom meeting for the following month and reached out to the FAIRtax national organization.
Randy Fischer received the contact. Randy sent a message to Adam Yomtov, and the Zoom meeting was on. Will became the consensus leader and set about to make the official filing with the State of Missouri to create Missourians for Fair Taxation, C.A. (Cooperative Association). The group is in the process of deciding whether to apply to the IRS, that we are trying to abolish, for a Section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) exemption.
The group meets once a month and is growing. Its core consists of local members and at least one Member of the United States House of Representatives. In addition, United States Senator Josh Hawley has a member at each meeting. The group also includes Missouri House of Representatives Member Darin Chappell. Chappell is talking up a state-level FAIRtax in Missouri, proposing to eliminate both income and property taxes. The previous Missouri organization had been vibrant but had gone dormant, so we are thrilled to see Will’s group grow in its place.
Will reports being surprised by how many members of the state legislature don’t know about the FAIRtax proposal. He thinks once they understand the bill, they will support it. (Does that sound like, “Once you understand it, you’ll demand it?”)
Will thinks he can advance a bill in the next twelve to eighteen months in spite of a constitutional hurdle. A previous state constitutional amendment prohibiting new sales taxes will have to be repealed. That’s a heavy lift, but one that Will thinks can be accomplished.
Will wishes that the Republican legislature had waited for the state-level FAIRtax to be introduced before increasing the threshold to amend the state constitution from 50%+1 to 60%.
Will graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1996 and was admitted to the Missouri bar the same year.
He began working for Springfield Criminal Defense Attorney Shawn Askinosie in the spring of 1997. Two years later he joined the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office as an assistant prosecutor. In 2002, he opened his own private criminal defense firm and soon afterward launched MissouriTrafficTickets.com - the world’s first completely online legal service.
Over the next two decades Worsham Law Firm grew to a total of four lawyers, and five support staff. Will earned numerous awards including Springfield Business Journal’s 40 under 40, Superlawyer, America’s Best, and Client’s Choice. Will turned his attention to Business Consulting and Estate Planning, launching additional websites such as EvictionsQuick.com, MyMissouriLLC.com, & Simple-Trust.com.
Will has been married to his wife Shelby since 1995. They have three sons. He has served as an elder at Fellowship Bible Church of the Ozarks since 2014. He has a 4th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and holds a Federal Firearms License. In his spare time, he currently manages K-ROG Wildcat TV - an internet based streaming media company focused on his hometown of Rogersville, Missouri. He enjoys cooking for friends and family with his Lodge Cast Iron, Pit Barrel Cooker, Blackstone Griddle, & Weber 26” Kettle Grill.
I would love to hear if you have a grassroots leader whom you would like me to feature.
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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