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IowaPolitics.com: Huckabee touts 'fair tax' at rally
IowaPolitics.com ^
| 8/2/2007
| Chris Dorsey
Posted on 08/04/2007 3:29:26 AM PDT by Man50D
Mike Huckabee is a strong advocate for the "fair tax" proposal, which looks to replace the current tax code with essentially a federal sales and use tax.
The former Arkansas governor and GOP presidential candidate attended a noontime rally in support of the tax proposal Thursday in Grundy Center to share his message that such a proposal is good for the American economy.
"It totally revives the economy," Huckabee said in an interview Thursday with IowaPolitics.com. "It encourages entrepreuneurial efforts to make an economy strong."
Aside from the federal sales tax, the plan also includes a "prebate" to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level. The fair tax proposal would benefit the lower one-third of income earners in America, Huckabee said, while forcing the "underground economy" -- composed of criminals and others -- to pay their share of taxes, Huckabee said.
Businesses would also benefit from a fair tax plan, he said. Currently, American businesses are paying $250-$500 billion annually to be tax compliant -- money that could instead go toward research and development, the Republican candidate said.
The fair tax would also eliminate the complicated tax code that is currently in place, Huckabee said.
"It would give us a tax code that a seven-year-old running a lemonade stand could understand," he said.
Lobbyists in Washington, D.C. have kept the proposal from becoming a reality, the former governor said. There are 35,000 lobbyists working 535 members of Congress, and that is keeping the fair tax at bay.
"They like a tax system that has winners and losers," Huckabee said. "The fair tax makes much more sense because it brings sense to the tax code."
TOPICS: News/Current Events
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1
posted on
08/04/2007 3:29:29 AM PDT
by
Man50D
To: ancient_geezer; Taxman; pigdog; Principled; EternalVigilance; PhilWill; kevkrom; n-tres-ted; ...
2
posted on
08/04/2007 3:30:20 AM PDT
by
Man50D
(Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it!)
To: Man50D
Wow, not bad for a guy who has a history of raising taxes.
Good for him!
3
posted on
08/04/2007 3:31:39 AM PDT
by
ovrtaxt
(Sworn to oppose control freaks, foreign and domestic.)
To: Man50D
I’d like to see something like this. The current tax code is so complicated that no one person can ‘know it’. If you search for loopholes and workarounds to paying taxes you will find them in most cases, but the time (and effort) to do so is simply not available to most people. It’s a complete mess to try and wade through.
4
posted on
08/04/2007 4:05:35 AM PDT
by
kinoxi
To: All; Man50D
Duncan Hunter is also strongly in favor of FAIR TAX.
I wonder who else is.
5
posted on
08/04/2007 4:10:55 AM PDT
by
Sun
(Duncan Hunter: pro-life/borders, understands Red China threat! http://www.gohunter08.com/Home.aspx)
To: Sun
6
posted on
08/04/2007 4:32:57 AM PDT
by
Man50D
(Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it!)
To: Man50D
The only fair tax is an equal tax, where everyone pays the same amount.
Now if you believe in from each according to his means ... then all sorts of games and percentages come into play to convince the average Joe he is getting a break.
With one set amount the politicians can not divide and conquor the people, like they do when they get non-property owners to vote to raise property taxes, or when they get nonsmokers to raise taxes on cigarettes.
One man, one vote, one tax bill.
7
posted on
08/04/2007 4:39:00 AM PDT
by
Mark was here
(Hard work never killed anyone, but why take the chance?)
To: Mark was here
I don’t think any non-property owning voters ever see a property tax that they will not vote for.
8
posted on
08/04/2007 5:16:57 AM PDT
by
seemoAR
(Absolute power corrupts absolutely)
To: Man50D
Thanks for posting the “scorecard”.
Seems the frontrunners want to avoid it, but those with everything to gain by taking a risk go for it? Perhaps frontrunners do not want to spend time defending it? That will change when they realize that defending the status quo is impossible and unacceptable.
That will be something to look for a change in. Shoot, I remember when pols hadn’t even heard of any reform!
9
posted on
08/04/2007 6:37:56 AM PDT
by
Principled
(Vaporize the "Divide and Conquer" taxes - Have everyone pay the same marginal rate!. NRST!)
To: Sun
Tancredo is a co-sponsor of the House FairTax bill.
10
posted on
08/04/2007 7:04:49 AM PDT
by
nonliberal
(Graduate: Curtis E. LeMay School of International Relations)
To: Principled
It's almost frightening just how pervasive the current tax code has become in our daily lives. It's gotten so big that a large part of the electorate treats it like a beaten wife treats her husband. It robs, abuses, and oppresses them at every turn, and yet it is all they know, so they're too afraid to get rid of it for something else.
This is why the top candidates distance themselves from the FairTax. They are too timid to force the voters to face the fears that will go with any radical tax reform proposal. That would require something called "leadership", and I guess we just can't expect that out of our Presidential candidates anymore.
I'm not saying they have to push my preferred proposal, the FairTax, though I would certainly rather they did. The problem is that none of the candidates with a serious chance of being nominated propose any real, specific tax reform. Giuliani and Romney just want to tinker with the current code, get rid of a couple taxes, and lower some marginal rates. McCain claims to be in favor of tax reform, and even said he would sign the FairTax into law, but he couches his support in such vague terms as "anything that would simplify our tax code", and "a flatter and fairer tax", that he really isn't taking a position at all. Even Fred Thompson, my preferred "candidate", is hedging his bets. If he really was answering the FairTax guy in that video, then that's good news, but he's going to have to do better than two words in a flesh-pressing session if he wants to run on tax reform.
And that's really the problem, isn't it? Politicians have become so emasculated by "triangulation" and sound bite politics that they're completely unwilling to tackle such an obvious problem as that monstrosity known as the U.S. Tax Code. The President is supposed to be Leader of the Free World, not Follower of the Fifty-One Percent.
11
posted on
08/04/2007 7:41:30 AM PDT
by
The Pack Knight
(Duty, Honor, Country. Right-Wing Conspirator and Friend of Fred)
To: The Pack Knight
Thanks for your thoughtful post Pack Knight.
I agree with your assertion that front runners are afraid to provide leadership. The situation is changing however.
THe difference[s] visible in the way reform is treated; from no options available [1990?] to several options [all consumption taxes including 2 flat income tax proposals] but still not a word from a pol to two leading proposals mentioned frequently but not debated publicly [nrst hr25 and forbes flat tax] to one leading proposal [hr 25] mentioned frequently in media and by pols and debated in public frequently [but not by front runners].
THe next step will be front runners debating in public frequently instead of sidestepping an issue that requires leadership as you say.
I stand behind my statement that it isn't a matter of if, but a matter of when the nrst becomes law.
We will be forced to expand the base due to entitlement growth. THe sooner we pass the nrst, the better - as it will apply serious brakes to growth of taxation.
12
posted on
08/04/2007 7:53:41 AM PDT
by
Principled
(Vaporize the "Divide and Conquer" taxes - Have everyone pay the same marginal rate!. NRST!)
To: Man50D
Interesting list. Thanks for eliminating some of the candidates for me. The yeses have my vote now.
13
posted on
08/04/2007 7:54:43 AM PDT
by
groanup
(Limited government is the answer. What's the question?)
To: The Pack Knight
The income tax code violates the 1st, 5th and 10th amendments.
14
posted on
08/04/2007 7:56:22 AM PDT
by
groanup
(Limited government is the answer. What's the question?)
To: Principled
I stand behind my statement that it isn't a matter of if, but a matter of when the nrst becomes law.
I certainly agree, and meant to add that myself. If it isn't this election, it'll be the next one, or even the 2010 midterms. When I see Republicans replaced with Democrats because of corruption and spending, and those same Democrats then sporting even lower approval ratings not a year later, it tells me that the electorate might finally be getting sick of how their country is being governed. I think reform in all areas of government will be a winner in coming years, and the tax reform is the most obvious need.
The main obstacle is the fact that it only benefits productive, working Americans, who are rapidly becoming a minority in their own country exactly because of the entitlement and tax growth you mentioned. As productive Americans, we need to realize that it really is our country and ours alone in the end.
15
posted on
08/04/2007 8:26:40 AM PDT
by
The Pack Knight
(Duty, Honor, Country. Right-Wing Conspirator and Friend of Fred)
To: groanup
Probably explains why we can’t get rid of it!
16
posted on
08/04/2007 8:43:18 AM PDT
by
freespirited
(Thank you for not lying about Republicans.)
To: Man50D
17
posted on
08/04/2007 12:54:44 PM PDT
by
griswold3
(Al queda is guilty of hiraba (war against society) Penalty is death.)
To: Man50D
FairTax won't mean anything unless spending is addressed.
Huckabee's a big government so-con anyway.
To: Man50D
Thanks for the link about which presidential candidates are for Fair Tax, and I’m glad to see it’s the majority of GOP presidential candidates, and special kudos to Hunter and Tancredo for co-sponsoring of H.R. 25.
19
posted on
08/04/2007 5:21:32 PM PDT
by
Sun
(Duncan Hunter: pro-life/borders, understands Red China threat! http://www.gohunter08.com/Home.aspx)
To: ovrtaxt
Wow, not bad for a guy who has a history of raising taxes.
"those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it,"
20
posted on
08/04/2007 9:58:12 PM PDT
by
lewislynn
(What does the global warming movement and the Fairtax movement have in common? Disinformation)
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