Editor:
House Speaker Richardson has it right. Georgia needs his tax reform now! So what is it that he is proposing? Simply stated, it’s a small part of the “Fair Tax”. The same “Fair Tax” that Congressman John Under and Talk Show Host Neal Boortz have been promoting.
So how would Richardson’s tax reform work? It would shift the burden of paying for government services off the backs of property owners in Georgia to every Georgian paying their fair share based on a sales tax on how much they buy. It would be a sales tax that every Georgian would be charged on all goods and services purchased in the state of Georgia. Rich people typically buy more and would pay the largest amount of taxes. They will no longer have the many tax loopholes that they currently use to reduce or eliminate their tax liability. The poorest Georgians typically buy the least and would pay the least.
Some other reasons to support his plan are:
1. It would bring industry to Georgia because they would be able to do business in Georgia without paying state taxes. This would allow them to pass on lower prices making them more competitive in the market place and resulting in more good paying jobs for Georgians. Many of the manufacturing and other businesses that have left the U.S. for cheap labor cost overseas would come back if the “fair tax” became the way taxes were paid in this country.
2. It would bring the state taxing methods more in line with the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that provides for “equal protection under the law for all citizens”. Everyone would be treated equally in the eyes of the law under the “fair tax”. Current tax exemptions favor some at the expense of others. When everyone pays the same percentage of sales tax, it is equal and fair to all Georgians.
3. The amount of revenue generated would be tied to the health of the economy forcing the politicians to do everything possible to insure that it stayed healthy and robust.
I only wish the speaker would take his proposal one step further; eliminate all state taxes including income taxes and replace them with his sales tax. By doing this he would set in motion the greatest economic expansion in state history. The rest of the nation would take note of the economic miracle in Georgia and demand the same “fair tax” be applied at the federal level.
Imagine no more IRS audits, NO MORE IRS, no more filling out income tax forms to meet the April 15th deadline, no more tax loopholes for the rich, no more tax codes that nobody knows including the IRS auditors, no more Medicaid taxes, no more Social Security taxes; and no more federal taxes of any kind. Everyone would get to keep all of the money earned in their paycheck. Nothing would be taken for taxes; all this in exchange for a national sales tax on goods and services purchased.
WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES have an opportunity to save the future of this country, our prosperity and that of our children and grandchildren by demanding that our politicians (Republican and Democrat) adopt the “FAIR TAX” for all taxation in the United States, local, state and federal.
What the speaker is proposing will be fought tooth and nail by most politicians. They will not want to lose their power to write tax codes, favoring one group at the expense of another group or give a tax break to a big campaign contributor slipped into a bill in the dead of night taken away. WE THE PEOPLE need to support the speaker and rise up against the tyranny of the tax codes. WE are the ones with the ultimate power in this country. Go on line and GOOGLE the “Fair Tax” and read up on it. Just remember, those who choose to oppose it will do so because they are uninformed or because the current tax codes give them an unfair advantage over others.
So, Mr. Speaker, you have a large hill to climb to educate millions of Georgians about your reform of the tax codes. You deserve the support of all Georgians for this noble and fair way of providing the necessary revenue to support state and local government services.
Good Luck, Mr. Speaker.
Thomas F. McElwee
Statesboro