If you haven't noticed, there has been a war waging between FairTax NRST Folks vs Non-Filer Tax Protestor Folks. The debate has become hot and heavy at times. It's time to take it down a notch, so hopefully, "cooler" heads can prevail. Note: NRST = National Retail Sales Tax... also known as "consumption" tax.

          You may have seen the 7/7/2000 USA Today Newspaper full page ad: Income Taxes are illegal and Former IRS agent not filing a tax return, dealing with a former IRS agent who claims that "filing income taxes" is not mandatory. The Ad was paid for by a Tax Protestor group.

          They may be absolutely correct.... so where do we go from here? Do you continue to avoid reporting income to the Gestapo IRS, and hope that they never find out who you are and what you are doing... or shall we move toward a National Retail Sales Tax, so no American citizen will ever have to report income to anybody?

          Why look over your shoulder every April the 15^th when everything you want accomplished, is accomplished by H.R. 2525, the FairTax bill before Congress? [unless you have a hidden agenda to keep the income tax system in place]

          Some don't file taxes because it may very well be unconstitutional... some don't file because the 16^th Amendment may not have been properly ratified... some don't file because they are in this country illegally... some don't file because our currency is no longer backed by gold and silver as mandated by our Founding Fathers in Article 1 Section 10, and they feel that "taxes" should only be paid by something other than fiat [counterfeit] FRNS [Federal Reserve Notes], thus unconstitutional.

          We can debate this crap, 'till the cows come home, but you have to consider how your actions today, affect your children in the future. Recent history has proven, even with the GOP congress in charge of the nations pursestrings, taxes and spending have increased.

          "Americans will spend more money per capita in 1999 on taxes ($10,298) than on food ($2,693), clothing ($1,404), and shelter ($5,833) combined," according to Patrick Fleenor, senior economist at the Tax Foundation and author of the report published last year, titled, "The Price of Civilized Society." "From 1981 to 1999, the federal government increased what it collects per person more than 45 percent," said Fleenor. So if nothing is done, in another 18 years, expect your children/grandchildren to spend over $20,000 per years to "feed-the-beast", with an income tax rate of over 80%!

          You have to wonder why most every Tax Protestor Guru ends up in the clink, along with many of his flock, if his latest gimmick is so "ironclad"?

          Let's be truthful... What percent chance do you think you have to get Congress to admit that they have been successful in pulling the wool over our eyes for 86 years, that their Marxist "progressive-graduated" income tax was modeled after the Second Plank of the Communist Manifesto, and that the income tax system is unconstitutional?

[__] 100%
[__] 50%
[__] 0%

          Let's say that you're a typical family of four with an income of $45K per year. What if I were to prove to you that, even though you do not report/or pay income taxes, you still have over 40% of your income taken in taxes?

          Even though you don't file, you STILL have 7.65% of your income taken in payroll taxes. If you think the "Employers Share", 7.65%, is not taken from you because of lower wages---you've been fooled! Do you really think that 7.65% came from his profits? LOL! So you have 15.3% extracted from your pay before you even see it.

          Then you pay an additional 20% to 40% in "hidden" taxes that are embedded into the price of every good and service you buy! When a welfare recipient goes to buy a loaf of bread -- even though they pay no income taxes directly -- they will end up paying the income taxes and substantial compliance costs that cascade from each businesses along the production line from the farmer, miller, baker, distributor, transporter and retailer that are hidden in the cost of that loaf.

HOUSTON... We Have A Problem! (with hidden taxes)

Excerpt: "In short, federal taxes today increase an item's price by almost 34 percent of its cost. State and local government taxes further raise that share to 48 percent. Keep in mind, these taxes are paid by all consumers and are in addition to the almost 40 percent tax rate most families pay in income and payroll taxes already."

          Businesses do not pay taxes, they collect taxes in the form of higher prices, lower wages or less return on investments of the owners/stockholders. All goods and services already contain the embedded costs of the current tax system in their prices. When these embedded taxes are removed, prices will come down. Dr. Dale Jorgenson, Chairman of the Economics Department at Harvard University, has projected a producer price reduction of 20 to 30 percent in just the first year after the adoption of the FairTax. In addition, the FairTax will lower compliance costs by more than 90% and the removal of these costs will force prices down even lower.

          There are many reasons why prices will fall from 20-40% once the FairTax is the law of the land:

• Compliance costs will go down, reducing the cost of doing business throughout the economy
• The cost of doing business will fall, since taxes on production will be eliminated
• The cost of working and employing people will fall since payroll taxes and income taxes will be repealed
• The cost of investing in productive plants and equipment will fall, since taxes on investment will be repealed
• The economy will become more efficient since decisions will be made based on underlying economic considerations rather than tax loopholes or incentives
• The economy will become more productive since the level of investment per worker will increase the amount of capital each worker has to work with
• And the latest technology will be more affordable

          Competition and our free market will force businesses to pass these savings on to consumers. "Competition" should determine the cost of things, not "Corporate income taxes", "Payroll taxes", "Huge compliance costs", and everything mentioned above.

          So let me get this straight... as a Tax Protestor, you would rather fight the system, pay a self-styled tax guru major bux in membership fees and dues, plus pay more in tax than under the NRST and forever look over your shoulder to see if the IRS is a'coming?

28.0% Income tax [since you're a non-filer]
15.3% Payroll tax... Then with what's left over, you pay:
30.0% (Avg.) in Hidden taxes
45.3% Minimum Tax that all non-filers pay (Not counting state and local taxes)

          Which will leave you with 54.7% of your income to feed, clothe and house the family. (Minus state and local taxes)

But what about...

• Capital gains taxes
• Death Taxes
• Gift taxes
• Self employment taxes

          Face it, I have heard these Tax Protestor arguments for over 20 years and nothing has changed. They don't even have a bill before congress that asks for the elimination of the income tax system. They have had a number of meetings in Washington to 'prove' their point, all of which have been exercises in futility.

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