Dammit Newt! Shoulda tried the FairTax 

The respected conservative publication National Review is asking Newt Gingrich to get out of the race.  In the National Review editorial (which you can read here) the editors say that “Santorum has won more contests than Gingrich (who has won only one), has more delegates and leads him in the polls. In at least one poll, he also leads Romney. It isn’t yet a Romney–Santorum contest, but it could be headed that way.”

Santorum certainly isn’t my choice in the GOP field.  He’s too friendly with labor unions, and there’s that troubling proclivity for wanting the government to get involved in the personal lives of free Americans.  And then, of course, there’s Santorum’s disdain for libertarianism … and his stated opinion that libertarians believe in “no government.”  Is he really that ignorant?  Or is he just dishonest.  Gotta be one of the two.

Anyway … Santorum is clearly the flavor of the moment and Gingrich seems to be sliding on most polls out there.  It seems that voters took a taste and decided that Newt just wasn’t for them. 

I’m upset over this for a number of reasons.  First, Newt Gingrich is a friend of mine.  Has been for about 40 years now.  I know the guy, and I’m convinced that he would have made an excellent leader of our country.  Secondly – there has never been a candidate seeking the GOP nomination who has put more effort into research on the various problems facing our nation or who has put forth more innovative solutions than Newt Gingrich.  Many of Newt’s ideas and proposed solutions would have served to reduce the role of the federal government in our lives.  That, of course, is poison to virtually all Democrats in Washington, and quite a few Republicans – known as the Republican Establishment – as well.

Not only am I upset ..  I’m also angry.  I’m angry at Newt Gingrich.  For some reason, no matter how much I encouraged and cajoled, Newt absolutely refused to embrace the FairTax in his campaign.  All I could get from him was some weak promise to appoint some commissions to study the issue.  Commissions hell!  There’s over $22 million dollars worth of research into this tax reform proposal.  After $22 million, several books, countless studies and years of public dialogue --- what’s left to research?  Newt couldn’t come up with one single element of the FairTax for which extensive research had not already been done.

So why didn’t Newt take the chance on the FairTax?  Sorry, I don’t know.  Perhaps he is afraid of demagoguery from the Democrats.  Sure – the FairTax IS easy to demagogue.  It is also easy to defend.  I’ve debated the FairTax with people who, by all accounts, should have destroyed me.  There was that former Assistant Treasury Secretary, now teaching tax law at Yale, for instance.  That debate took place before an elite audience at City University of New York on Manhattan, and the learned professor was never in the game.  Is it possible that I could hold my own with anyone on a debate over the FairTax, and Newt didn’t feel that he could?  

Let’s imagine that Newt – or any candidate, for that matter – was campaigning on the FairTax.  Here are some great lines they could incorporate in their stump speech:

• When we pass the FairTax each of you will get 100% of what you have earned in every paycheck.  No deduction for federal income tax, for Social Security, for Medicare.  You get it all.  You worked for it … it’s yours.

• Not one American household will have to pay one penny in tax to the federal government until that household’s basic needs for food, shelter, transportation and clothing have been met.  You only pay federal taxes only AFTER you have met your family’s basic needs.

• With the FairTax the 16^th Amendment will be repealed.  Never again will the federal government claim ownership of ANY portion of your life.

• After we implement the FairTax we will declare April 15^th to be National Picnic Day.  You can pack a nice picnic lunch and head to some serene setting to celebrate the end of IRS control, dominance and intimidation in your life. 

• After we implement the FairTax, when you die those people lined up to claim portions of what you have left behind will be those you love – your family.  NOT agents the federal government.  Your death will no longer be a taxable event.

• Under the FairTax the USA will become the biggest business and jobs magnet in the world.  Businesses and corporations from around the world will rush to our shores to open their next manufacturing, distribution or service facility.  Virtually every businessman in the world will be eager to do business in a country where there is no tax component on labor or capital.

• Do you want smaller government?  The FairTax would be the biggest transfer of power from the Imperial Federal Government of the United States to the people in the entire history of our Republic.  Why, after all, do you think my opponents are demagoging this idea so dishonestly?

• We spend around $300 to $500 billion each and every year just to comply with tax laws in this country.  Can any of you imagine some better ways that $300 billion could be put to work in our economy?

• With the FairTax no demagogue will ever be able to tell you that you’re not paying your fair share.  Save your money – invest it in our economy – and you pay nothing.  Spend it and you pay just as anyone else.

• Yes!  The FairTax is 23%.  What my opponent WON’T tell you is that 22% of the price of everything you buy ends up in the hands of the federal government as it is!  That 22% disappears and is replaced by the 23%.  The price of retail goods and services remain essentially the same!

• So the question here is … would you rather hand to the federal government 25% or more on everything you earn?  Or 23% on everything you spend?

• Yes – my opponents will tell you all of the reasons the FairTax would be a disaster.  They’ll tell you that I want to add 23% to the cost of everything you buy.  They’ll tell you that the real FairTax rate is 30%, not 23%.  I’ve debated those points before – and my opponents always lose!  They’re being dishonest – and they know it.  They just hope YOU don’t know it.  They’re goal is to protect big government and their power, not to make life easier for you.  There’s simply too much at stake here for you to remain uninformed, so day-by-day Americans do their homework and learn the truth about the FairTax, and the nature of the lies being told by my opponents. 

• Americans spend an average of 57 hours a year on the paperwork it takes to file their federal income tax return.  That’s almost one and a-half workweeks.  Can you think of a better use for that time? 

• Under the FairTax you can save or invest the money you earn – you can bury it in the back yard if you wish – do anything you want!  It’s yours!  You will only pay taxes to the federal government if you spend that

• The FairTax puts YOU in control!  Do you feel in control right now?  If you do, contact your friendly IRS agent and run that concept by him.

OK .. that just took me a few minutes.  I could feed incredible talking points to any candidate willing to run on this tax reform plan.

Americans are ready for tax reform – they’re screaming for it.  Why do you think Herman Cain was so successful with his 999 plan?  They are sick to death of the present system, and not one single candidate left in the race is offering any serious or meaningful tax reform idea.

So … as I said; Dammit, Newt!  What’s your problem?  I seriously believe that if you had campaigned on the FairTax you would be leading the pack.  You want crowds?  We had 15,000 people at the Gwinnet Arena.  There were 12,000 people on a hot Orlando street in 95-degree temperatures.  A book on TAXES --- TAXES, Newt, debuted No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list … a book on the FairTax?  What didn’t you get? Were you so tied up in your own generation of brilliant proposals that you failed to see the value of work done by a group of economists and scholars with $22 million in funding behind them?

So now the National Review wants you to get out of the race.  If you had been the FairTax candidate – with your ability to debate complex issues – the National Review would be asking for your election by acclamation right now.