Posted: Jun 17, 2005 By: Doug Rau

Subject: In Support of the FairTax

Comment: Speaking as a middle class taxpayer, with a wife who owns and operates her own business, I am in full support of the FairTax.

Some argue that the income tax should be preserved because its what people are familiar with. This argument would hold water if we were discussing whether to drive on the right side of the street or the left. However, regarding the US tax code, no sane individual should want to be so familiar with it. No individual should have to be.

I've also read arguments that the FairTax would transfer more of the tax burden onto the shoulders of the middle class, since the poor would pay little to nothing, and the rich apparently hoard their wealth like waterfowl. But its calculated revenue-neutral rate of approximately 25% is very nearly what my personal income tax rate is now, so I'm not sure where they're coming from. The time and cost savings in tax planning and preparation alone would therefore make it worthwhile.

Add to this the benefits of removing the submission of my private information through the mail/Internet every year, removing the corporate tax burden already hidden in nearly all consumer purchases, improving the competitiveness of American companies in an increasingly global marketplace, encouraging savings and investment, and much reducing the ability of our fine elected representatives to tinker with the tax code to reward or punish selected interests, and I feel that its a clear win.