Americans For Fair Taxation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Americans For Fair Taxation (AFFT), also known as FairTax.org, is the United States' largest, single-issue grassroots organization dedicated to fundamental tax code replacement. The Houston, Texas-based non-partisan political advocacy group is made up of volunteers who are working to get the Fair Tax Act enacted in the United States; a plan to replace all federal payroll and income taxes (both corporate and personal) with a national retail sales tax and monthly tax "prebate" to households of citizens and legal resident aliens. Americans for Fair Taxation state they subscribe to the ideals of simplicity, fairness, and freedom which they believe are embodied in the FairTax. The organization claims to have over 600,000 members & supporters.[1][2]
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[edit] History
AFFT was founded in 1994 by three Houston businessmen, Jack Trotter, Bob McNair, and Leo Linbeck, who each pledged $1.5 million as seed money to hire tax experts to identify what they perceived as faults with the current tax system, to determine what American citizens would like to see in tax reform, and then to design the best system of taxation.[1]
The three went on to raise an additional $17 million to fund focus groups with citizens around the country and tax policy studies.[1]
Some of the experts funded include:
- Professors David Burton and Dan Mastromarco, University of Maryland and The Argus Group
- Laurence Kotlikoff, Boston University
- Stephen Moore, The Cato Institute
- Professor Dale Jorgenson, Harvard University
- Bill Beach, the Heritage Foundation
- Jim Poterba, The National Bureau of Economic Research
- Professor George Zodrow, Rice University and the Baker Institute for Public Policy
- Professor Joseph Kahn, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
[edit] Criticisms
Some have criticized Americans For Fair Taxation for the way that they present the FairTax plan. The most common critique is the presented FairTax rate of a 23% sales tax on the total transaction value of new retail goods and services purchases; consumers pay to the government 23 cents of every dollar spent (sometimes called tax inclusive).[3] However, American sales taxes have historically been expressed as a percentage of the original sale price (sometimes called tax exclusive) or a 30% FairTax rate; items priced at $100 pre-tax cost $130 with the tax added.[4] The use of the tax inclusive number in presenting the rate has been criticized as deceptive and by some as a "lie".[4] However, AFFT argues that the 23% number represents a better comparison to income tax rates.[3] If you are in a 25% income tax bracket, you will pay $25 in federal income taxes out every $100 you earn. With the 23% FairTax, you would pay $23 in taxes out of every $100 you spend. This is also how the legislation is written - as an inclusive tax.[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Ose, Al (2002). America's Best Kept Secret Fairtax: Give Yourself a 25% Raise, Paperback, Authorhouse. ISBN 1-4033-9189-0.
- ^ Regnier, Pat (2005-09-07). Just how fair is the FairTax?. Money Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-07-20.
- ^ a b Boortz, Neal, Linder, John (2006). The Fair Tax Book, Paperback, Regan Books. ISBN 0-06-087549-6.
- ^ a b Vance, Laurence (2005-12-12). There is No Such Thing as a Fair Tax. Ludwig von Mises Institute. Retrieved on 2006-07-20.
- ^ Linder, John (2005-01-04). H.R. 25: Fair Tax Act of 2005. govtrack.us. 109th U.S. Congress. Retrieved on 2006-07-20.
[edit] External links
- Americans For Fair Taxation Main Website
- Americans For Fair Taxation Volunteer Website
- Americans For Fair Taxation Blog Website
- The FairTax - It's Time Video (18 min 14 sec) - Americans For Fair Taxation, An introduction to the FairTax
[edit] Grassroots sites
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- FairTax Blog - Group blog with news and discussion of the FairTax plan
- FairTax Revolution - Provides FairTax Action Alerts
- FairTax Groups - National FairTax message forums
- FairTax Foundation - Organization promoting the FairTax
- FairTax Yahoo Groups - State groups for FairTax information
- FairTax Calendar - National Calendar of Events hosted by FairTax volunteers
- FairTax Calculator - Estimate your tax burden under the FairTax
