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Study Emphasizes Need for Reform of Federal Tax System WASHINGTON (Sep. 27) – House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Representative John Linder (R-Ga) today announced the release of a new study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that highlights the need for fundamental reform of the federal tax system. “Americans are spending astronomical amounts of money to comply with a broken, outdated, and complex tax system,” said DeLay. “The complexity of our existing system is siphoning billions of dollars out of our economy each year and burdening taxpayers with additional out of pocket expenses.” The GAO study, requested by...

As the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform prepares to send its recommendations to the Treasury secretary next month, we hope that it will propose to abolish our indecipherable and unwieldy income-tax code and replace it with a tax on personal consumption. Slowly but surely, large macroeconomic forces are pushing the federal government away from income-based taxation and toward consumption-based taxation. As our tax code has grown more complicated in the last 15 years, compliance costs for both businesses and families have skyrocketed. According to IRS data for tax year 2003, 60 percent of people filing tax returns retained...

FairTax would free markets, individuals from income tax. In “The FairTax Book,” Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.) and libertarian talk radio host Neal Boortz offer a witty and straightforward explanation of the political and economic consequences of making April 15 “just another day.” Published by Regan Books, it hits bookstores this week. And if tax reform is not a “hot” topic now, then give this book a month on the New York Times bestseller list for things to change. The FairTax is a bold idea to replace the income tax with a national sales tax. What’s so bold about it? Not...

For Immediate Release June 16, 2005 STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT'S ADVISORY PANEL ON FEDERAL TAX REFORM CHAIRMAN CONNIE MACK AND VICE-CHAIRMAN JOHN BREAUX ~PANEL DEADLINE EXTENDED~ Today the White House released a new Executive Order that extends the deadline for the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform's report to be delivered to the Treasury Secretary from July 31st to September 30, 2005. Advisory Panel Chairman Connie Mack and Vice-Chairman John Breaux made the following statement: The President's Advisory Panel has done an incredible amount of work in a short period of time. We have held nine meetings all across...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Thursday embraced the notion of overhauling the nation's tax system and said that some form of a consumption tax - such as a national sales tax - could spur greater economic growth. The Fed chief made his comments in prepared remarks to the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. Revamping the complex tax code is an important goal of President Bush. Greenspan pointed out the merits of a "consumption" tax, as well as the challenges of setting up such a tax. Consumption taxes can take the form of national retail...

THERE THEY GO AGAIN! President George W. Bush and the Republican Party are determined to overhaul the tortuous federal tax system just in time for both the 20th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's 1986 tax act and next year's mid-term elections, which could see both parties fighting over large numbers of open seats. Bush promised in his State of the Union address to deliver a tax code that is "pro-growth, easy to understand and fair to all." The current code is so ponderous that it is driving an alarming number of taxpayers to underreport their incomes or not report incomes at...

WASHINGTON - Some leading Republicans in Congress are weighing whether to take a chance this year on a massive legislative package that would overhaul Social Security and the income-tax code at the same time - a challenge of historic proportion that could lead to sweeping changes throughout American society. Republicans have reached no consensus on the question, which would disrupt President Bush's preferred schedule of taking on Social Security first and tax changes later. The issue is expected to be one of the main topics that Republican lawmakers will debate during a retreat this week at the Greenbrier hotel and...

WASHINGTON - If President Bush wins re-election, U.S. Rep. John Linder knows conditions might be ideal for action on his sweeping proposal to eliminate the federal income tax and replace it with a national sales tax. The Georgia Republican says he continues to get signals from the White House that the concept - or something like it - could well become a high priority in a second Bush term. But Linder said not to expect Bush to fully embrace the proposal during Wednesday night's debate on domestic issues or any time before the Nov. 2 election. "You're not going to...

Washington, D.C. (Sept. 30) - Today, Congressman John Linder (R-GA), the sponsor of a personal consumption tax proposal known as the "FairTax" (H.R. 25), participated in a special House Republican Conference meeting on fundamental tax reform. Congressman Linder was joined by various Member of Congress and members of House Leadership, including Speaker of the House Denny Hastert (R-IL), Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), Republican Conference Chairman Deborah Pryce (R-OH), Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Bill Thomas (R-CA), and others. Linder stated, "The time is ripe for fundamental tax reform and a completely new Federal tax regime. We will...

In a worrisome trend bound to confront the winner of November's presidential election, U.S. multinational corporations increasingly are shifting more of their global profits to such tax havens as Ireland, Bermuda and Luxembourg. The practice promises to accelerate the nation's shrinking corporate tax base and risk the loss of billions in federal tax dollars. Combined with the recent flurry of federal tax cuts for U.S. households, the decline of corporate taxes raises a big question. How will the federal government, already facing a hefty deficit, fund itself and its many obligations in the coming years? The alarm over the corporate...

"The freedoms won by Americans in 1776 were lost in the revolution of 1913," wrote Frank Chodorov. Indeed, a man's home used to be his castle. The income tax, however, gave the government the keys to every door and the sole right to change the locks. Today the American people are no longer the master and the government has ceased to be the servant. How could this be? The Revolution fought in the name of the inherent natural rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness promised to enthrone the gains of individualism. Instead, federal taxation bribes the States...

Web Extra Aug. 31, 2004 -- The soul of the Republican Convention goes on display when the lights go down Thursday night for the prime time presidential spectacular. While President Bush's comments on the war in Iraq will likely generate the next day's headlines, the Bush-Cheney campaign believes the real news to voters yet to choose between the president and Democrat John Kerry will be the president's words on health care, retirement and schools. The message from the president is being crafted to catch the attention of suburban women voters, in swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, who may pay...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--There are plenty of reasons why an overhaul of the U.S. income tax code should be a priority for George W. Bush in a second term. The alternative minimum tax, originally designed to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, is expected by 2010 to boost the tax burden on half of all households making under $100,000. Corporate and individual tax shelters are draining billions of revenue from the federal treasury; one estimate pegs losses at $33 billion since 1993. The international tax code hasn't been updated since the 1960s, and is inspiring U.S. companies...

President Bush is teasing Americans with hints at broad-based tax reform as a core theme of his campaign for re-election. Too bad the same tired refrains that have squashed sensible tax policy for years are already being dusted off in Washington. The first big problem dogging tax reform is that everyone always goes after the wrong enemy: the IRS. Even House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) - who calls for scrapping the income tax in his new autobiography - throws wildly at the IRS like it's some out-of-control slugger. Never have the concepts of codification and execution been so terribly mixed...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 -- Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa (5th CD), issued the following press release: Iowa Rep. Steve King applauded Chairman Thomas today for agreeing to hold a hearing on major tax reforms, including the FairTax. As news sources reported yesterday, Representative Bill Thomas, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, announced that his committee would consider replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax. "I have been working to move to a national sales tax, or FairTax, even before I was elected to Congress", said King. We should abolish all federal income taxes, including the regressive...

President Bush is just wrong to back an "intelligence czar" to oversee all U.S. intelligence/terrorist-fighting operations but not give that person ultimate budget authority, Sen. Orrin Hatch told a teacher seminar Monday. It's not often that Hatch, R-Utah, a GOP senator for 28 years, disagrees with his party's president. But Hatch told the Huntsman Seminar for Teachers at the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics that naming an overall intelligence boss without giving him or her the final "power of the purse" -- as Bush has suggested -- would result in the "czar" having as little power as the...

The Democrats have a new charge against the Republicans: tax code complexity is way up in recent years. House Democrats, led by Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, intend to make rising tax complexity an election year issue. Republicans are devoting floor time to tax simplification in the House this week, but there is no denying that they have dropped the ball on this growing problem. After the GOP assumed power in 1995, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer promised to "rip the income tax out by its roots." In a 1996 report, Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich argued: "The current...

In offering a plan purporting to "create 10 million jobs," John Kerry has become the latest officeseeker to embrace the fanciful notion that mere tinkering with the Tax Code can outsmart the free market. History proves otherwise. The three biggest economic expansions of the 20th Century, under Presidents Coolidge, Kennedy, and Reagan, were accompanied by straightforward reductions in federal tax rates. Unfortunately, Kerry's modest nod in this direction (a cut in the corporate tax rate of 1.75 percentage points) would be followed by a harsh slap -- new tax penalties on businesses that, in his words, "take jobs overseas." Supporters...

Georgia Election Results Unofficial And Incomplete Results of the Tuesday, July 20, 2004 General Primary The results displayed are UNOFFICIAL AND INCOMPLETE until certified by both county election superintendents and the Secretary of State, a process that will not be completed until the week of July 26th. These unofficial returns, transmitted by counties to the Secretary of State’s Data Center on election night, are under continuous review for formatting accuracy and are subject to correction at any time. Last Updated 7/21/2004 12:42:14 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- United States Senator, Miller Republican 96% of precincts reporting Votes Percentage Herman Cain 168,348 26.2% Mac...

This fall the Senate Finance Committee plans to introduce new legislation covering private foundations, donor-advised funds, public charities, and other tax-exempt organizations. As reported in our cover story, Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Finance Committee, held hearings on this subject on June 22, 2004, and released on June 21, a staff-prepared "discussion draft" outlining possible proposals for the forthcoming legislation. The Philanthropy Roundtable believes that a number of proposals in the discussion draft would seriously harm philanthropy, civil society, and the vision of "a nation of citizens, not spectators," articulated by President George W. Bush in his...