"All the common people want is to be left alone. All the ordinary soldier wants is to collect his pay and not get killed. Thats why the great forces of history can be manipulated by astonishingly small groups of determined people" - Orson Scott Card "Empire"
The Current Tax Code
Mass confusion surrounds our tax code and is beginning to stimulate the debate to reform the present tax system. Reform plans range from a minor overhaul of the income tax to completely abolishing it.
What we need is a fair, simple, transparent tax system that any American can understand at a glance. A new
tax system that would end late night sweating over endless forms and allow us to trash our shoeboxes full
of receipts. We need a system that won’t hide the tax burden in the cost of goods and services; a system
that will allow working people – wage earners – to take home their entire paychecks, with no deductions.
We need a tax system that will eliminate post April 15 th anxiety over whether or not we will be one of the
unlucky millions of people who are assessed a civil penalty by the IRS each and every year, or who receive
the dreaded audit notices.
Where did my paycheck go?
As a hardworking employee, I have always been dismayed at how much money I don’t take home due to federal income and payroll taxes. Americans For Fair Taxation is proposing a consumeroriented and fairtax proposal that will benefit taxpayers, not the IRS.
The middle class, the majority of the population, willbe better off under this new tax system. They, not the government, will control the amount they pay intaxes, because they control what and how much they purchase.
The middle class will not be the only ones to benefit from the FairTax, because poverty level
Americans will pay no federal tax at all. They will no longer pay the highly regressive payroll tax imposed on the very
first dollar earned.
Companies leaving the US to avoid tax burden
Americans should be concerned about the competitive edge that our tax system gives foreign manufacturers. We should no longer allow the income tax to make foreign produce goods more competitive than our own.
Replacing the income tax with the FairTax, a highly progressive federal consumption tax, will end this
practice and make American products 20 to 30 percent more competitive, both at home and abroad.
What break for U.S. producers and consumers as well! Getting rid of the income tax will dramatically lowerproduction costs in this country. And competition will ensure that these cost savings will flow, not only to
the pockets of American manufacturers who will be able to create more and better paying
jobs, but also to the pockets of American consumers who will be able to buy more, save more, and invest more.
Small Businesses spend too much profits on complying with the current tax code
As the owner of a small business, I am confronted every day with the harsh realities of dealing with our
income tax system. I have to keep track of income, inventories, and expenses, some of which are
deductible, some are not, and some seem to be deductible or not, depending on the phase of the moon!
I must track depreciation, tax basis for assets sold, and various pension and deferred compensation rules.
In addition, there are payroll taxes, including Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment taxes, and the
endless filing of various returns.
I thought all was lost, until I heard about the FairTax supported by Americans For Fair Taxation. It will
repeal the federal income tax, including capital gains, all corporate and selfemployment taxes, all payroll
taxes, and estate and gift taxes.
No more loopholes, which lower everybody’s tax but mine, and no more IRS.
Ending corporate income and payroll taxes, and dramatically reducing income tax compliance costs, will
allow me to expand my business and maybe hire a few new employees, or pay some welldeserved
bonuses to my dedicated staff, who find it harder and harder to make ends meet these days.
