Roanoke Area FairTax

 

19 July 2008

 

The Honorable Bob Goodlatte
United States House of Representatives
2240 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4606

 

Dear Representative Goodlatte:

 

I am writing this letter to you to express my very, very deep concern on the state of our Country and the future of the Republic because of the inability of our Congress to put aside partisan differences and work for the best interest of all citizens and not just a select few.  The select few are you, the members of Congress and your special interest groups.

 

Soon we will be conducting a national election and we all are facing some very critical issues that must be addressed including but not limited to the economy, the war against Islamic terrorism, the education of our children, immigration policy, and health care.  As a member of Congress I know that you pay attention to the various polls that seem to be conducted every day on issues facing this Nation.  However one poll you don’t seem to pay attention too is the poll that rates the performance of you, the members of the current Congress.  This month the polls indicate that just 9% of we citizens say Congress is doing a good or excellent job.  This is unacceptable and you all should be ashamed for doing such a poor job. 

You talk about the plight of the poor and middle class while giving yourself a pay hike each year.  You argue over the high cost of health care and prescription drugs while you all have the best and most comprehensive health care in the country.  You talk about loss of retirement benefits for many Americans yet Congressional pension benefits are 2-3 times more generous than what a similarly-salaried executive could expect to receive upon retiring from the private sector.  We read a lot of stories about pensions and attempts by the Congress to “reform” the system.  No doubt we will be hearing a lot of sound bites from the Congress, some “outraged”, by the loss of pensions and others pointing to “economic reality” while professing empathy for the working American. Amid the entire hubbub, you must remember that you, members of Congress, have a pension plan and it’s not at risk.   

You talk about the loss of jobs while you fail to recognize that the corporate and other taxes you have imposed are driving corporations and jobs out of the country.  While we citizens try to cope with every day issues facing our families you, members of the US Congress, once again have shown yourselves capable of surmounting partisan friction and institutional gridlock when it comes to serving a group of Americans you care about deeply, yourselves.  When the 110th Congress returned from its holiday recess in January the mountain of unfinished business left behind in 2007 was still waiting – everything from judicial nominations to bilateral trade agreements to the terrorist surveillance program to the farm bill.  But you gentlemen and, yes, the gentlewomen of the House and Senate made sure that nothing would impede what has become almost an annual tradition: the hike in your own salaries. When the sun rose on January 1, 2008, so did your congressional pay.  From $165,200 to $169,300 – a tidy little jump of $4,100.

This marked the ninth raise you members of Congress have given yourself over the past decade. With the exception of 1999 and 2007, every New Year’s Day since 1998 has triggered a boost in congressional salaries of between $3,100 and $4,900. While the median income of US families has increased by around $11,000 since 1998, the income of our representatives in Washington has increased by more than $30,000. Considering that the latter work for the former, the imbalance between them is striking.

We citizens can probably expect the same as the current political year winds down.  The Congress has scheduled only 35 work days between now and the November election and zero working days after the election until inauguration of a new President.  If business worked a schedule like that they would be bankrupt in no time.

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What can we do to address the loss of jobs to overseas, stimulate the economy, bring corporations back to this country and reduce the flow of capital overseas?  One idea being proposed that will have a positive effect on our country on jobs and the economy is The Fair Tax Act (HR 25, S 1025).

I implore you and your staff to take a very hard look at the Fair Tax Plan.  The Fair Tax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality, and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the 16th Amendment.

The Fair Tax Act (HR 25, S 1025) is nonpartisan legislation. It abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax  administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities.

The Fair Tax taxes us only on what we choose to spend on new goods or services, not on what we earn. The Fair Tax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system.

The Fair Tax:

• Enables workers to keep their entire paychecks
• Enables retirees to keep their entire pensions
• Refunds in advance the tax on purchases of basic necessities
• Allows American products to compete fairly
• Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
• Ensures Social Security and Medicare funding
• Closes all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
• Abolishes the IRS

Remember this is a government “of the people, by the people and for the people” and you work for us, for it is we who elected you to serve us and not to enrich yourself as so many of Congress has done.  Thank you for you consideration and God Bless America.

Semper Fidelis,

Thomas J. Dalzell, Colonel USMC (Ret)

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