Congressman John Linder updates volunteers at Newnan meeting

Congressman John Linder, sponsor of HR 25 (The FairTax Act of 2007) was the guest speaker at a volunteer info and training meeting in Newnan this past Saturday.

Some of the highlights of Congressman Linder's talk included the findings of a study conducted by the Rockefeller Foundation which shows that states which rely on sales taxes are doing better economically than those which rely on income taxes.

The challenge of U.S. dollars being moved to offshore bank accounts in an effort to avoid paying taxes on Capital Gains and interest has grown to about $11 trillion (up from 1.3 trillion just a couple of years ago) and is growing by $800 billion per year resulting in billions of dollars in lost tax revenue every year. Former Fed Chairman Greenspan says that once the FairTax is passed it would only take months for that money to be repatriated back into the U.S. banks which could then be used to grow the economy.

The underground economy, which includes illegal trades such as drugs and prostitution but also includes independent contractors who collect cash for their services which is under reported, has grown to over $3 trillion annually resulting in almost $1 trillion in lost tax revenue annually.

The cost for American businesses and individuals to comply with the tax code in 2006 was up to $400 billion and predicted to continue to rise in the coming years.

Linder feels the FairTax will be a lot less susceptible to such tax evasion. Economic figures show that 47% of all consumption comes from just 688 businesses.... our "Big Box" retailers. 87% of our consumption is from 193,000 businesses which is still only 3.7% of all U.S. businesses. These businesses are not likely to risk their business license by not complying with the collection and sending in of the consumption tax revenue.

Linder reminded the group that Social Security had 42 workers per retiree at its inception. That number is down to about 4 to 1 and shrinking rapidly. Former White House Chief Economic Adviser Larry Lindsey says that either one of these two measures would save Social Security:
1. raising/eliminating the current cap on income of $90,000 or
2. broadening the base that pays into SS.
Doing both (as the FairTax would) would create a surplus in the fund.

Congressman Linder explained that only people with income pay into Social Security and that is capped at $90,000. The wealthy who don't have an income from working pay nothing into Social Security. But, with the FairTax when they spend their wealth they would contribute and the contributions would be unlimited based upon their spending decisions.

Linder shared with the group that he is very encouraged with the number of co-sponsors the newly introduced legislation has already. With 35 co-sponsors just two weeks into the Congress. He told the group that it was six or seven months before he had that many co-sponsors with the FairTax Act of 2005. He feels comfortable that this bill should exceed his goal of 100 co-sponsors and with Rep. Dan Boren, Democrat from Oklahoma, as the lead co-sponsor he is confident of achieving bipartisan support in this Congress.

Linder received the biggest round of applause when he told the group that if the new Democratic controlled Congress wants to pass the FairTax in the next two years he will do all he can to assist them in that effort.

Many thanks to the 80 plus FairTax supporters who gave up their Saturday morning to attend the meeting and learn more about how they can help promote the FairTax. The attendees were ready to offer lots of good ideas, plus their time and talent. Look for a FairTax MySpace web page that will be built by one of the attendees. Several volunteered to be trained so they could become speakers to the many organizations throughout the state that ask for a presentation. And most agreed to help out by manning booths at carnivals, business conventions, community fairs, etc.

Additional info/training meetings are being planned for Gainesville and Macon in February. The exact dates will be decided soon and announced. So, if you couldn't make this meeting you will have other opportunities. Congressman Linder has agreed to attend the future meetings as his schedule allows.

If you are interested in attending the next meetings in either Gainesville or Macon email Angela at: abean108@bellsouth.net