Fairtax Power Radio

John Richardson is an attorney living in Canada who specializes in helping American citizens living outside the US deal with the unique problems our US tax code imposes on those citizens. Recently, he issued a rather surprising recommendation—renounce your US citizenship now. Whether it’s by coincidence or by design, the Internal Revenue Code is driving people away from the United States.This week, the FAIRtax Guys take a look at the underlying reason behind Mr. Richardson’s shocking recommendation.

In the years since it was first introduced, Congress has paid precious little attention to the FAIRtax. Judging from that, it would be easy to believe that your Congressional representatives never hear about the FAIRtax and that many don’t know anything about it. Unfortunately, the truth is that Congress DOES know about the FAIRtax. They just choose to ignore it.This week on FAIRtax Power Radio, the FAIRtax Guys look at testimony that was given before the Joint Economic Committee in the House of Representatives in November of 2011. Dan Mastromarco laid out a scathing indictment of the current tax system, called them out on why the current system continues to exist, and then makes a compelling case for switching to the FAIRtax.

A lot of people make a lot of money off the current income/payroll tax system. The FAIRtax would derail their gravy train. So, it’s no wonder that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s promise to bring the FAIRtax to a vote in this Congress has brought opposition to the FAIRtax out of the woodwork.In their latest round of setting the record straight, The FAIRtax Guys dissect a January 2023 article from the Institute on Taxation and Economic policy that’s full of inaccurate assumptions and some downright untruths about the FAIRtax.

A few weeks ago, the FAIRtax Guys rebutted the points made in a letter that was sent to all the FAIRtax cosponsors in Congress. That letter was authored by economic advisor Grover Norquist on behalf of his organization Americans for Tax Reform. In the letter, Norquist made numerous wild and inaccurate representations about the FAIRtax in urging cosponsors to withdraw their support for the bill.This week, the Guys call on AFFT President Steve Hayes to provide some personal insight on what’s behind ATR’s attack on the FAIRtax. Hayes and Norquist know each other personally and have worked together on several previous occasions

As taxpayers, the IRS owes us at least a minimum standard of care when it comes to protecting the personal data that we must give them on our tax returns. At the very least, they should ensure that our data doesn’t fall into unauthorized hands and of course, they need to keep track of where they put it.Unfortunately, the IRS is failing miserably on both counts. There have been multiple leaks of confidential taxpayer data, and now an Inspector General’s report reveals that the IRS has simply lost over a million tax returns. This is completely unacceptable, and there’s only one way to fix the problem. Taxpayers must insist on a tax system that doesn’t rely on the government collecting our personal data. We must insist that the income tax system be replaced with the FAIRtax.

Recently, a well known organization that advocates for tax reform sent a letter to all the FAIRtax cosponsors in Congress urging them to withdraw their support. Unfortunately, this letter bore a striking resemblance to the article we discussed a few weeks ago that was written by a man who owns a tax preparation service.In both cases, the authors made wildly inaccurate claims about the FAIRtax that are just not based in fact. Listen as the FAIRtax Guys once again separate fact from fiction and demonstrate why the FAIRtax should replace our corrupt and antiquated income tax system.

If there’s one constant about the income tax code and the IRS, it’s that it’s constantly changing. That’s documented every week on FAIRtax Power Radio in the congress.gov segment. Apparently, internal policy at the IRS is not exactly a stable entity either.This week, the FAIRtax Guys look at another Epoch Times article concerning a recent IRS policy change. Citing security concerns, the IRS has announced that it is ending most unannounced agent visits to taxpayers’ homes. That sounds like a good thing, but it raises the question of why we have a tax code where unannounced visits to people’s homes were even necessary in the first place. Why not have a tax system where people pay their taxes at the retail cash register when they buy things?

A couple weeks ago, FAIRtax Power Radio reported on an IRS raid where a gun store owner was met by armed agents who confiscated thousands of names and addresses of people who had bought firearms at the store.Well, they’ve done it again. This week the FAIRtax guys discuss an Epoch Times article that describes another armed IRS raid on a business in Florida. We didn’t get much detail this time, but one thing remains the same. We still have a tax code that has to be enforced at gunpoint. That means we have a tax code that needs to be replaced with something simpler, fairer and much harder to evade. We need the FAIRtax.

For over a century, the government has been collecting sensitive personal and financial data on people in order to collect an income tax. And for over a century, the government has been assuring people that their sensitive data will be held in the strictest confidence. The law says it’s a felony to disclose a taxpayer’s confidential data without permission. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped people’s data from being hacked, leaked or otherwise disclosed to people who have no right to have it.This week, the FAIRtax Guys discuss a particularly egregious and disturbing breach of taxpayer confidentiality. Several tax preparation companies have been caught red handed sharing taxpayers’ data with Big Tech.

In another dazzling display of competence and accuracy, the IRS recently sent out thousands of payment due notices with the wrong due date. Because of a number of natural disasters in California, people in some California counties have been granted an extension from April 18 to October 16 on when their 2022 taxes are due. Imagine their shock and surprise when the IRS sends them a notice that basically says “pay up now”.As we have noted numerous times on FAIRtax Power Radio, this is far from the first time that the IRS has fouled something up, and it won’t be the last. It’s past time that we put the IRS out of business by replacing the income tax with the FAIRtax.

In the vast majority of cases, people arguing against the FAIRtax aren’t arguing against the FAIRtax as it’s written. They’re arguing against their perceptions of the FAIRtax, which in many cases, are rooted in a lack of understanding about the FAIRtax. In extreme cases, the perceptions and allegations raised against the FAIRtax are so farfetched that they rise to the level of intellectual dishonesty and fear mongering.Such is the case with an article published recently at Fox Business. For some reason, Fox Business didn’t disclose that the author who was savagely attacking the FAIRtax owns a tax service and is making a good living off the complexity of the income tax. This week, the FAIRtax Guys go over several points raised in the article and show just how ridiculous they are.

You’ll have to look long and hard to find someone who thinks that the American income tax system is fair. Most are convinced that they are paying too much while others are not paying enough. One thing is certain. The 70,000 plus pages of the tax code are chock full of loopholes, exemptions and favors that some people get and others don’t.Just prior to the NC Republican convention, AFFT President Steve Hayes sat down for an interview on this subject with the Carolina Journal. FAIRtax Power Radio is pleased to revisit this interview which touches on several ways in which the FAIRtax is superior to the income tax.

Small business is the heart of the American economy. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses account for 99.9% of the total number of businesses in the country and employ 47.1 % of the total US workforce.Unfortunately, small businesses are also a favorite target of the IRS. Our incredibly complex and ever changing tax code makes it very difficult if not impossible for small businesses to stay on the right side of the IRS. This week, the FAIRtax Guys look at a CNBC article about how the Employee Retention Credit is causing headaches for a significant number of small businesses.

The FAIRtax is in the best position it’s ever been. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has promised that the FAIRtax will get a vote in the House this session. That will let every voter in America see whether his/her Representative in Congress favors getting rid of the income tax and the IRS or keeping it.This week the FAIRtax Guys welcome AFFT President Steve Hayes back to the program to talk about his experience at the recent North Carolina Republican convention. Steve talked to a number of people there. They can’t be identified by name at this point, but there is definitely growing support for the FAIRtax at both the state and national levels.

We’ve seen this movie several times before. A candidate runs an attack ad portraying a FAIRtax supporter as someone who wants to raise your taxes by a gargantuan amount. Unfortunately for the candidates running such and ad, when their blatant dishonesty is exposed, there are usually rather severe unintended consequences.This week, the FAIRtax Guys talk with AFFT president Steve Hayes about the continuing fallout from the ad a pro-Trump PAC ran against Ron DeSantis. Bottom line is that by bringing this issue into the campaign, Trump has given DeSantis and other FAIRtax supporters a tremendous opportunity to present the FAIRtax as the way to get rid of the corrupt and inefficient IRS.

The FAIRtax has always been a non-partisan idea. You don’t have to subscribe to a particular political ideology or belong to a particular party to appreciate getting a bigger paycheck, never having to file another tax return and getting a tax refund every month. Still, for some reason, the Democratic Party remains solidly opposed to the FAIRtax.That’s unfortunate, because the FAIRtax addresses many of the issues that the party claims to care about. Using a research paper published on fairtax.org, the FAIRtax Guys go through several points on which the FAIRtax is right in line with the Democratic agenda.

Not long ago, FAIRtax Power Radio did a series of programs on how FAIRtax opponents would distort and misrepresent the FAIRtax to make it look as bad as possible. One tactic to look out for is portraying the FAIRtax as a massive new tax without mentioning that the FAIRtax actually replaces a pretty massive tax—the Federal income tax.Unfortunately, we’ve seen this very tactic being used already, so once again, the FAIRtax Guys tell the rest of the story that the dishonest ad leaves out. Listen and learn how the FAIRtax actually puts MORE money in your pocket, not less.

Small business is the heart of America. Businesses employing less than 20 people account for 90% of all US employers and employ over 20 million people. Clearly, what’s good for small business is good for America.In this edition of FAIRtax Power Radio, the FAIRtax Guys look at a white paper written by economist Karen Walby in which she documents the problems that the current income tax system imposes on small business and how the FAIRtax would set these businesses free to do what they do best.

In a concession to the Freedom Caucus, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has agreed to bring the FAIRtax to a vote in this Congress. Still, in order for that to happen, HR 25 must be voted out of the House Ways and Means Committee before there can be debate and a vote on the floor of the House.FAIRtax supporters can help ensure that Congress doesn’t go back on its promise by contacting Committee members and urging them to pass the FAIRtax out of committee. To that end, the FAIRtax Guys point out who’s on the committee and which district each member represents.

A non-partisan data research group at Syracuse University had documented a phenomenon that we all knew was happening. Lower income taxpayers are audited by the IRS at a much higher rate than other taxpayers. Why? Because this group doesn’t have the resources to fight back when the IRS comes to them with its hand out.It’s an injustice that isn’t going to go away until the IRS itself goes away. And the IRS isn’t going to go away until we replace the income tax with the FAIRtax.