If you tap grassroots volunteers, they will respond. We got word that a Libertarian Candidate for Congress from the First Congressional District in Ohio wanted to sign the FAIRtax Candidate Pledge. We could not let him down. We had to act. But how?
Libertarian Kevin Kahn of Cincinnati is an entrepreneur and local business owner. His company, K2 Industrial Control International, is a manufacturer's representative. The company works with small to medium-sized manufacturers to grow their export business with Made-in-USA industrial products. Kevin has dedicated his career first to working at, and then through his company, supporting local Cincinnati and American manufacturers. Now Kevin is running for Congress – and has put the FAIRtax in his platform.
We didn’t have any known FAIRtax volunteers in the Cincinnati area who could meet with Mr. Kahn and secure his signature on a FAIRtax Pledge. So, working from outside of Ohio, we had to find someone willing and able to do the job. We put our database manager, Adam Yomtov, to work.
Adam sent us a list of Ohio contributors for the past couple of years. We thought that, if someone out there was motivated enough to contribute, they might be interested in helping us out in a non-financial way.
We found Mark Porta from Cincinnati. Hoping our outreach would lead to something, we gave Mark and Kevin each other’s contact information. To our great pleasure, they made arrangements to meet at Kevin’s place.
We encourage candidates who sign the FAIRtax pledge to document their signing with either still photographs or video. We send the pictures or videos to Marketing Team Leader, Randy Fischer. Randy then posts the images on our website, fairtax.org, under “Get Involved,” “FAIRtax Candidate Pledge.”
Randy posted a link to Kevin’s website, where Kevin endorses the FAIRtax. Kevin will be the standard-bearer of the Libertarians in the November election for his Congressional District.
We are fortunate to have found Mark and we thank him for his service in photographing and videotaping Kevin’s signing of the FAIRtax Pledge.
Kevin Kahn, l, and Mark Porta, r
Now, a little about Mark. Mark is a 1981 Graduate of the University of Dayton whose career took him from a mechanical contracting firm to radio and television. In the mid-'80s, Mark worked at WLWT in Cincinnati, Ohio, first as vacation relief and eventually worked up to a full-time position. Mark began to freelance as a camera operator-technician in Remote Sports Broadcasting. Over the years, Mark acquired credentials from most of the TV Sports Networks. Meanwhile, he juggled managing a pizza parlor on the side.
Mark’s first encounter with the IRS came when the IRS decided that there were too many individuals declaring themselves to be subcontractors. They started investigating, and decided that people like Mark and the corporations that retain them, should be classified as “full-time temporary.” As a result, Mark and his clients had to start paying payroll taxes. At a time when jobs were leaving our shores, this arbitrary, bureaucratic action by the IRS was not helpful.
Fortunately, the IRS did not fine Mark’s corporations or make them - or him - pay back taxes. But Mark lost his ability to deduct business expenses.
The current Administration’s recent "Tax Reform" was sold to the American public as "Tax savings.” The Administration told us that we would take home more in our paycheck. What good does it do people like Mark if they have to pay back their so-called savings when they file their Tax returns?
Mark says, “America Needs the FAIRtax!”, and we agree.
Yours In the FAIRtax Movement!
Jim Bennett
AFFT Grassroots Coordinator & Secretary
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