The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform has published their recommendations in a nine-chapter report (plus an Appendix). As a supporter of the Fair Tax proposal, I find this panel's recommendations to be a complete waste of the time it took for them to compile it. It does not radically reform the current methodology and it leaves in place one of our government's biggest bureaucracies.
Herman Cain is a former 2004 US Senate Candidate in State of Georgia and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. He currently hosts a nationally syndicated radio show – “Herman Cain with the Bottom Line” and is a Fox News Business Contributor. I agree completely with his take on the recommendations of the advisory panel:
“Under the Tax Panel’s new proposals, lobbyists in Washington will get to keep their special loopholes. The incremental changes offered by the Tax Panel will only benefit K Street, not Main Street.
The Tax Panel has merely rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic tax code. The Panel’s recommendations will not make the tax code fairer for everybody. The top fifty percent of wage earners currently pay ninety-seven percent of all the income taxes. Under these proposals, Congress will still determine winners and losers with the tax code.
The Tax Panel’s proposals do not simplify the tax code either. Families and businesses spend 7 billion hours and nearly $300 billion each year filling out their IRS forms to comply with the code. Merely reducing the number of tax brackets does not make the code simpler for taxpayers or businesses. It’s still a 9-million word mess."
It is disappointing that the Tax Panel cavalierly dismissed the national retail sales tax, which is fair and simple for everybody. The visibility of the FairTax [HR 25 and S 25] would keep lawmakers from raising our taxes with ‘sneak-a-taxes’.
Over 80 economists and 47 members of Congress have read, understand and endorsed a national retail sales tax as the best alternative to the dysfunctional income tax code. The panel obviously ignored the hundreds of submitted statements and testimonies from the public and elected officials."
As disappointed as I am by the Mack-Breaux Tax Reform Commission's modest tax reform proposal, I am comforted in the knowledge that the report is only a small first step in what will be serious and fruitful Congressional action on fundamental tax reform in 2006. I urge Treasury Secretary Snow, President Bush, and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House and the Senate to look seriously at the FairTax and to join me in exploring comprehensive options for preparing America's tax code and its economy for the challenges of the 21st century."
I certainly hope that the Congressman's optimism is well-placed!
Herman Cain is a former 2004 US Senate Candidate in State of Georgia and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. He currently hosts a nationally syndicated radio show – “Herman Cain with the Bottom Line” and is a Fox News Business Contributor. I agree completely with his take on the recommendations of the advisory panel:
“Under the Tax Panel’s new proposals, lobbyists in Washington will get to keep their special loopholes. The incremental changes offered by the Tax Panel will only benefit K Street, not Main Street.
The Tax Panel has merely rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic tax code. The Panel’s recommendations will not make the tax code fairer for everybody. The top fifty percent of wage earners currently pay ninety-seven percent of all the income taxes. Under these proposals, Congress will still determine winners and losers with the tax code.
The Tax Panel’s proposals do not simplify the tax code either. Families and businesses spend 7 billion hours and nearly $300 billion each year filling out their IRS forms to comply with the code. Merely reducing the number of tax brackets does not make the code simpler for taxpayers or businesses. It’s still a 9-million word mess."
It is disappointing that the Tax Panel cavalierly dismissed the national retail sales tax, which is fair and simple for everybody. The visibility of the FairTax [HR 25 and S 25] would keep lawmakers from raising our taxes with ‘sneak-a-taxes’.
Over 80 economists and 47 members of Congress have read, understand and endorsed a national retail sales tax as the best alternative to the dysfunctional income tax code. The panel obviously ignored the hundreds of submitted statements and testimonies from the public and elected officials."
Congressman John Linder (R-GA) seemed to be a bit more optimistic in his remarks:
"...I remain hopeful, however, that Treasury Secretary Snow in his recommendations to President Bush will reach far beyond the limited foundation laid by the Tax Commission and propose true tax replacement in the form of a consumption tax - perhaps even a consumption tax that mirrors my FairTax proposal. The FairTax, the fundamental tax reform plan with more co-sponsors than any other bill in Congress, abolishes the entire income and payroll tax code and replaces it with a personal consumption tax on the purchase of new goods and services.As disappointed as I am by the Mack-Breaux Tax Reform Commission's modest tax reform proposal, I am comforted in the knowledge that the report is only a small first step in what will be serious and fruitful Congressional action on fundamental tax reform in 2006. I urge Treasury Secretary Snow, President Bush, and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House and the Senate to look seriously at the FairTax and to join me in exploring comprehensive options for preparing America's tax code and its economy for the challenges of the 21st century."
I certainly hope that the Congressman's optimism is well-placed!
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