THE FAIRTAX BOOK - EXPANDED - HITS THE STORES TODAY!

In the months after the first edition of The FairTax Book hit the book stores the visibility of H.R. 25, The FairTax Act, has increased exponentially across the country.  In virtually every congressional district in the nation representatives are getting questions from constituents about the FairTax.  Columnists and newspaper editorialists write about the FairTax virtually every week ... and we get a constant barrage of questions and comments at our Neal Boortz show email address.  When Regan Books said that they were going to put The FairTax Book back on the shelves in a soft cover edition, Congressman John Linder and I asked if we could go through the book and make some clarifications that would answer many of the questions we have received.  We also asked to add a 5,000 word "afterword," a final chapter, to the soft cover edition.  No problem ... done.  This new material will be found in the edition released today!

So ... how do I feel about H.R. 25 nine months after the release of the book?  Well, over the last nine months I've fielded every possible question about the FairTax both on the air and at public appearances to promote the book.  I've debated commentators on radio and television and a Yale tax law professor in New York City.  I've had questions and objections surprise me and send me right back into research mode.  I've read hundreds of letters that congressmen and senators, some in support of the FairTax, some in opposition.  After all of these challenges and questions, I am a stronger advocate than ever for the idea of replacing our corporate and personal income taxes with a national retail sales tax.  Every single time I research a question or respond to an objection I come away with a stronger belief that the FairTax would benefit virtually all those who live and work in the United States.  The growth in our economy would be astounding, as would the growth in the personal savings rate.  Businesses that have fled overseas to escape our punishing tax system would start making plans to come back home.  The approximately $11 trillion (with a "T") in American wealth that is working overseas, again to escape our punishing tax system, would start coming home.  American would become the world's largest and most desirable tax haven for business and industry --- and every single household in America, rich or poor, would be absolutely protected from the liability for any federal taxes on their spending right up to the poverty level for their sized household.  That means nobody pays any federal retail sales tax on the basic necessities of life.

One other thing has become clear to me since the original release of The FairTax Book.  The FairTax frightens many politicians.  We've come to realize that the passage of the FairTax would constitute the largest transfer of power from government -- from politicians -- to the people since our Constitution went into effect.  There are, it seems, many politicians who don't like to give up power.  These politicians will only support the FairTax if they believe that non-support could cost them their jobs.

Another aspect of my thinking has changed since the original release of the book.  Back in September of 2005 I believed that we needed tax reform, and that the FairTax was the best tax reform proposal on the table.  Did I think it could actually be done?  Hopeful?  Yes.  Confident?  Not at all.  That has changed too.  This can be done.  Our present tax code cannot be sustained.  We cannot continue with a system of funding the federal government that rewards the very behavior we don't want in our fellow Americans, and punishes the behavior we do want.  Our tax code is going to change, either through chaos or in an orderly fashion.  We can direct that change.

OK ... enough.  If you happen to see the soft cover edition of The FairTax Book around your local book store or supermarket check-out, buy a few.  Spread them around.  If this book ends up on the New York Times Bestseller's list again the message to the political class will be renewed and strengthened.  This is an idea that has legs.  This is an idea that has captured the imagination of your constituents.  Pay attention.
Order the paperback from Amazon.com
Order the paperback from Barnes & Noble
Atlanta FairTax Rally May 24

SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE.  THE PICTURE IS BLEAKER THAN EVER

The irresponsibility of the American people, their true heartfelt fear of freedom, and the exploitation of this fear by elected officials is bringing us closer to true financial disaster.  You're complaining about gas prices today?  In the not-to-distant future you'll have a lot more to complain about than gas prices. 

Most Americans believe that there is something out there called a Social Security trust fund.  They believe that when the government collects its Social Security taxes every year, it takes the money left over after paying all benefits and puts that money aside for future retirees.  Americans actually believe this --- but they're wrong.  The Social Security trust fund exists in name only.  There is no money there.  Not one single dollar.  It's all gone.  Decades ago, when Democrats were running the congressional show, someone came up with the bright idea of taking all of the Social Security taxes that were left over after benefits were paid and use that money to fund some other federal vote-buying social programs.  The idea was simple.  The free-spending congress would just give an IOU to the Social Security administration for the money that was pilfered and spent.  Those IOUs now sit in a grey filing cabinet in some federal office in West Virginia.  There's your precious Social Security trust fund.  Paper.  IOUs from a government that doesn't have the money to pay them. 

So how is it that Grandma gets her check every month?  Social Security is what they call a Ponzi Scheme.  If you or I set one of these up, we would be carted off to jail...which happens from time to time, by the way.  In a Ponzi Scheme, earlier investors are paid off with later ones, but there's no actual money being invested. Sort of like paying your Visa with your Mastercard....for 40 years.

So right now, some schlub is working at your local burger joint to pay for some retiree's check.  What is going to happen over time, is the amount paid out will be greater than the amount coming in...and the payout scheme will collapse, since there won't be enough to pay.

In just about 11 years, in 2017, we won't be collecting enough in Social Security taxes to pay the benefits that will be due to baby boom retirees.  In other words, It will be time to head to that filing cabinet in West Virginia, take some of the IOUs out, and present them to the U.S. Treasury for redemption.  But how do you pay off those IOUs when you're already spending every single penny you make?  Well ... there's only a few possibilities.  You borrow the money and go deeper in debt; you raise taxes on the already tax-oppressed Americans to get the needed funds, or you simply default on the IOU.  You could, of course, cut spending in other areas to come up with the money --- but remember who we're talking about here.  Even for a congress that has doubled federal spending over the past decade or so, cutting spending even by one single dollar is simply not an option. 

Privatization?  Yeah ... that would have been a partial solution.  It would have delayed the financial collapse of Social Security, but private retirement accounts don't serve the purposes of politicians --- especially Democrats.  How, after all, can Democrats threaten you with the loss of a retirement account that you own in order to frighten you into voting for Democrats?  In every single congressional election since 1960 Democrats have warned voters that if they vote for Republicans the evil Republicans will either reduce or take away their Social Security benefits.  And in every single congressional election since 1960 that argument has worked as thousands of frightened and uninformed wizened citizens rush to the polls to reelect their Democrat protectors. 

Another problem with the idea of privatization is that Americans only have a very superficial love of freedom.  The less freedom demands personal responsibility the more people love it.  The more freedom demands self-discipline the less freedom is revered. Personal accounts -- private accounts -- would mean that people would actually have to be responsible for investing their funds and, to some extent, managing those investments.  That's just a bit too much freedom for many. 

So -- the crisis looms.  Politics rule.

By the way ... and this has to be said.  One way to forestall -- not prevent, but forestall --- the crisis in funding Social Security and Medicare is to enact the FairTax.  Right now people who no longer pay income taxes because they no longer have taxable income don't contribute to the Social Security pool.  Enact the FairTax and these people are suddenly funding Social Security with every purchase they make ... past the poverty level, that is.  Ditto for foreign visitors, legal and illegal, to our country.  Just a thought.

DUHHHHH

A poll out today says that eight out of ten Americans don't think that President Bush has a clear plan for keeping gas prices down.  Well, guess what.  It is not the president's, nor the government's role in our economy to keep the gas prices down.  That is a function of the marketplace.  If you want to see prices go down, decrease the demand so that the supply will increase. 

We see here an illustration of a fundamental problem in America .. the believe that it is the government's role to smooth every bump in the road and straighten every tight curve for all Americans. 

BUSH'S WAR?  NO WAY

Yesterday Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada came out and commemorated the 3 year mark since George Bush stood on the aircraft carrier in front of the 'Mission Accomplished' banner.  He called the war in Iraq "Bush's war."  Oh really?  Tsk, tsk, Senator....have you forgotten?

Now that things have gotten rough in Iraq and it's tough sledding, a bunch of Democrats have come out and ripped the president over the war now for several years.  But to call it his war...I don't think so.  For a little background, let's take a look at some of the Democratic senators that voted in favor of Joint Resolution 114, the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.  They include:

Harry Reid of Nevada, Democrat
Joe Biden of Delaware, Democrat
Max Cleland of Georgia, Democrat (included because he would like everyone to forget)
John Edwards of North Carolina, Democrat
John Kerry of Massachusetts, Democrat
Chuck Schumer of New York, Democrat
Hillary Clinton of New York, Democrat

Those are just a few.  So even though the Bush-bashing media would like to sweep it under the rug...never forget...these exact Senators saw the exact same intelligence George W. Bush did and voted to authorize the war.  They can change their mind, try and spin their vote...whatever...but it's their war too.

THANK YOU WXTK!

Just sharing an email message with my friends and detractors out there!

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Is that a body in the back of that truck? More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

See inside the protest...photographer Lan Lamphere sent us some shots he took of the "A Day Without Immigrants" march in downtown Oklahoma City, OK yesterday.

Delaware Democratic Senator Joseph Biden has announced he has a plan to solve the war in Iraq.  His solution: break up the country into 3 parts.  Yeah...that'll work.  Just as Yugoslavia.

Cal Thomas skewers the Republican Party for going along with dumb ideas like a windfall profits tax on the oil industry and the $100 welfare check giveaway proposal to ease the pain of gas prices.

The mainstream media, out to serve their own agenda, has been ignoring many of the nation's heroes in the war on terror.  Jack Kelly runs us through a few.

It's been 3 years since President George W. Bush stood in front of a banner that said 'Mission Accomplished' hung on an aircraft carrier.  Reason magazine marks the occasion by presenting 3 different points of view on the war in Iraq.

Is former New York Mayor and 9/11 hero Rudy Giuliani going to run for president?  He hasn't decided, but as he campaigns for other candidates he says the GOP needs to be open to diverse views.

Border states are finally getting tired of all the illegal aliens streaming across their border.  Arizona, in particular, wants to send National Guard troops to patrol the border.  There's an idea.

What were the illegal aliens really on strike about?  Pat Buchanan says there is no more welcoming people on Earth than the American people.  Buchanan says what yesterday was about was a show of force.

With the economy still booming, David Limbaugh argues that it is time to extend the Bush tax cuts. If people really want help paying for gas, then how about keeping the money they have in their pocket?

So what can be done about high gas prices?  Jack Kemp throws his 2 cents in...and says windfall profits taxes, $100 rebates and other assorted government nonsense are not the way.  Plus, he has a little history lesson from the last time those things were tried.

20/20 reporter John Stossel has a new book out....and you'll be surprised at some of the things it contains.  Rebecca Hagelin has a review and also recounts a recent speech of Stossel's she attended.

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