THE IRS MUST GO!

Richard E. Byrd, Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, March 3, 1910, speaking against the ratification of the 16th Amendment (which allowed Congress to establish the IRS), said:

"A hand from Washington will be stretched out and placed upon every man's business; the eye of the Federal inspector will be in every man's counting house. The law will of necessity have inquisitorial features, it will provide penalties. It will create a complicated machinery. Under it, businessmen will be hauled into courts distant from their homes. Heavy fines imposed by distant and unfamiliar tribunals will constantly menace the taxpayer. An army of Federal inspectors, spies, and detectives will descend upon the state. They will compel men of business to show their books and disclose the secrets of their affairs. They will dictate forms of bookkeeping. They will require statements and affidavits."

Here we are almost 90 years later and I believe everyone would have to agree that Speaker Richard Byrd’s predictions have come true, and then some.

In the beginning, hardly anyone had to file a tax return because the tax did not apply to the vast majority of America's work-a-day citizens. For example, in 1939, 26 years after the Sixteenth Amendment was adopted, only 5% of the population, counting both taxpayers and their dependents, was required to file returns. Today, more than 80% of the population is under the income tax.

The IRS has five times more investigators than the FBI. Our government has more agents investigating taxpayers than pursuing terrorists and criminals. The IRS has admitted to Congress that it targets lower income individuals and small business owners. Adding insult to injury, only in the U.S. Tax Court are you guilty until you can prove your innocence.

As of June 1999 there were 20,512 Lobbyist registered in Washington D.C. and over 50% of them are there in one way or another to influence the IRS code for their special interest.

The Income Tax is inherently an unfair, broken system, so entirely manipulated by special interests with inside-Washington influence, that the time has come to stop tinkering with it and replace it.

There is a solution:

HR 2525, Also known as the “Fair Tax” Bill

On July 14, 1999, The Fair Tax Act of 1999, HR 2525, was introduced to Congress by Rep. John Linder (R-GA) and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN).

HR 2525 will:

1. Repeal the federal income tax, including capital gains taxes.
2. Repeal corporate and self-employment taxes.
3. Repeal all payroll taxes including Social Security and Medicare taxes.
4. Repeal all estate and gift taxes.
5. Repeal the 16th amendment to the Constitution, so that taxation of income will become unconstitutional.
6. Provide a universal rebate equal to the sales tax paid on essential goods and services to ensure that no American pays taxes on necessities.
7. Impose a 23% tax inclusive rate on the purchase of new goods and services in the U.S.

HR 2525 Won't:

1. Cause prices to rise.
2. Decrease government revenue.
3. Unfairly burden the poor or elderly.
4. Unfairly burden retailers.
5. Be structured as a VAT.
6. Provide tax loopholes of any kind.

In a survey done in Europe 80% of the companies surveyed said if we passed HR 2525 they would build their next plant in the United States and 20% of the companies said if HR 2525 passed they would move their company headquarters to the United States.  Think of the jobs this will create.