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sysadmin August 14th, 2004 10:30

Taxpayer Group Urges Tax Reform
 
[National Taxpayers Union] (Alexandria, VA) -- President Bush should amplify, not downplay, his comments earlier this week that replacing the current Tax Code with a national sales tax is "an interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously." That's the advice from the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), reacting to reports today that the White House may be distancing itself from those comments.

"Unfounded and uninformed political attacks on tax reform as another burden on middle-class families shouldn't deter President Bush from re-affirming his support for this vital goal," said NTU President John Berthoud. "A retail national sales tax would replace the current tax system, not add to it. And, because a consumption tax could provide for a universal rebate to allow families to purchase necessities tax-free, a new system could protect the poor without hitting everyone else's wallet."

According to Berthoud, momentum on behalf of fundamental tax reform has been increasing:

Last week, House Speaker Dennis Hastert announced support for a national sales tax in lieu of the current income tax. Last year, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay became a cosponsor of the "FairTax" proposal (H.R. 25, authored by Rep. John Linder). This legislation would replace income and personal payroll taxes with a retail-level national sales tax. Today NTU sent an e-mail alert to nearly 90,000 subscribers, urging them to push Congress for a start on tax reform this year, not sometime after the election.
In February 2003 the annual Economic Report of the President, published by the President's Council of Economic Advisers, explored in-depth the concept of consumption taxes in a chapter entitled "Tax Policy for a Growing Economy."
More than 1/4 of the House of Representatives (118 Members) has cosponsored the Tax Reform Action Commission Act (H.R. 3215), which would establish a panel to make specific tax reform recommendations that Congress would consider under expedited rules.
Berthoud noted that "tax reform is slowly but surely entering the mainstream of political opinion, much in the way it entered the mainstream of public opinion years ago." Just one example of the latter phenomenon occurred during the height of the anthrax scare. A November 2001 McKenna Research poll determined that by a 50-32 percent margin, more Americans feared "receiving an audit notice from the IRS in the mail" than "receiving anthrax in the mail."

"When Americans would sooner confront the threat of terrorism than their tax agency, something's very wrong with our tax system," Berthoud concluded. "The American people have already begun a national debate over tax reform, and it's time for all national candidates to join in the conversation."

NTU is a non-partisan citizen group founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, smaller government, and more accountability from elected officials. Further information on H.R. 25, H.R. 3215, and other tax reform initiatives may be found online at www.ntu.org.


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