Simply Misunderstood
The Fair Tax is simply misunderstood by many. During a September 29th interview between Representative John Campbell (R CA-48) and the TownHall.com Capital Report, Campbell stated: “My leanings are against the fair tax, because the fair tax, or basically having a national sales tax or value-added tax, would require repealing the 16th Amendment to the Constitution.â€
Representative John Linder successfully counters such misunderstandings by pointing out that “the constitutionality of the FairTax, a national sales tax is absolutely constitutional, with or without the 16th amendment. Article 1, section 8 of the US Constitution gives Congress the power to “lay and Collect Taxes, Duties, Imports and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common Defense and general welfare of the U.S. The Fair Tax is an excise tax levied on the final purchase of all goods and services sold in the U.S., and therefore falls within bounds of the Constitution.”
Rep. Campbell continues to fault the Fair Tax by stating, “I think the enforcement mechanism for that [Fair Tax] will have to be so intrusive, it will have to be something we won’t want to do.†On this point, I must agree with the Representative. I would not want the state sales tax agency to review my business’s books. And none of us actually want to pay taxes. The fact of the matter is that state sales tax agencies already conduct such intrusive audits of businesses’ gross sales. This intrusiveness, however, is very minor when compared to the detailed accounting of expenses and incomes required by the current IRS Income Tax Code. When placed in the proper prospective, the Fair Tax is the less intrusive way to to go.
As stated in the article, Rep. Campbell is a CPA and he has a Master’s Degree in Taxation. I think this alone goes a long way to recognizing how overly complex the current tax situation is in the Unites States. When CPA’s return to school for an advanced degree in taxation, primary income taxation, shouldn’t we all be ready for a simpler system.
At the point of first retail sale, 23% shall be collected as federal tax. Now that is a simple system! A system that can be understood by small business people and corporate moguls alike.
We need to all welcome Representative Campbell to the U.S. Congress by faxing a letter to him at his California Office. I’ve written a letter regarding the first issue, the 16th Amendment. This letter can be downloaded from FairTaxScorecard.com. I will also post any additional letters sent in covering the enforcement and complexity issues.
