Who Wants a Tax Break?

The race for tax breaks is on. Whether or not they were affected by the events of September 11, thousands of lobbyists are racing to Washington, D.C. to tweak the tax bill before Congress.

As Carrie Ardelean, Vice President of Operations with Americans for Fair Taxation, pointed out, "Once again, Congress and the tax lobbyists are manipulating the tax code to pick economic winners and losers. But what we are seeing here is the tax break mentality run amuck. If everybody demands a tax break, how is the federal government going to be funded?"

According to the Chicago Tribune, Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform . . . said, "It's just outrageous and disgusting for people to say, 'Oh, people were killed, give me money.' They should be taken out and horsewhipped. It's shameful to exploit this."

Looking to the future, Ms. Ardelean argues, "We don't need more narrow-minded tax breaks for special interests. We need to grow the economy. The best way to do that is to shift the federal tax base from income to consumption. Stop penalizing hard work and investment, and start taxing people according to how much they personally consume. This is what the FairTax, a federal consumption, tax will do. With the FairTax rebate, the poor will pay no federal taxes up to the poverty level. Above the poverty level, everyone will pay the same percentage consumption tax and their fair share whenever they pay for new goods or services."