FairTax letter to congress

The following is a letter I have written and sent to my representatives in congress, and to the Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert. I suggest others follow suit, read the book, and write their representatives.

I have recently purchased and read "The FairTax Book." There are many things about this plan that I had not known. For instance, the poor make out twice: through elimination of payroll taxes, and through the prebate mechanism. Additionally, since the 23 percent national sales tax supplants the hidden 22 percent tax embedded in all items we currently purchase (on average), there will be no additional burden on those more needy souls of our nation. The middle class (including myself) also benefit for these same reasons. The cost of compliance with the IRS is a whole other ball of wax that goes out with the wash, and never comes back with abolition of the IRS. I can no longer do my own taxes, and feel that the whole process of our overly complicated tax return system is an abomination. Another issue I had not previously know about this new proposal for tax collection is the amount of money that is kept overseas, by corporations and wealthy individuals in order to avoid taxation in this country, all done legally. With the elimination of all taxes on income and savings, this money will surely flood back to our nation, and our country will be the country of choice for doing business. We lead the world today, but that head start will surely crumble over time if we do not act soon. In my optimistic attempt to help our nation for my daughter and all of our successive generations, I ask that you support the FairTax, whole heartedly, embrace this new plan which does not change the way congress does business, but only changes the way our budgets and entitlements are funded.

I offer this additional advice, for what it is worth. I realize that Republicans this year are in tight re-election campaigns, and I wish you and others the best of luck. I stand behind you and always have. As a way to distinguish and differentiate your representation of the constituents of Illinois, as I have asked my representative of Pennsylvania to represent me, I suggest you and other Republicans run on the platform of replacing the IRS with the FairTax. Who out there among us does not despise the IRS? If the campaign ads are structured in a clever and precise way, we can show all constituents that this is the right thing to do. Don't let the left wrongly say the plan is a tax increase on the poor, as I've indicated before, they benefit twice. This is in your best interest, because polls show that this is a winning platform. Look at recent primaries in Georgia, where +80% of voters voted for this very issue, and more practically, the turn out increased because of the issue. As a representative of the people, you can see that this is a win-win scenario, stand behind the FairTax, win elections, and most importantly, the people win, because the taxation is simple and fair.

Thank you in advance for consideration.
Sincerely,
Douglas A. Bauman