StraightUpAmerican.com

One point of confusion on the FairTax is that it will tax services that are not currently taxed. The truth is that consumers are already paying taxes when they pay for services. The income and payroll taxes that businesses are required to pay are included in the fees they charge for their services. The difference under the FairTax will be that the consumer will know exactly how much of the fee they pay is going to pay taxes and how much is actually going to the company they are patronizing.

Transparency in our tax system is something we have never known, but I think we could get used to it. If you don’t like it we can always hand the power back over to the politicians.

Like so many others I try my hardest to keep up with the important issues and current events of the day. But, with all the demands that work, family and community place on our time it’s near to impossible to actually keep up. I sometimes suspect that we are all too busy to remain fully informed by design, but that’s a political conspiracy theory I’ll save for another day.

I’ve come to realize, though, that by trying to keep up with every issue I am not truly keeping up with any. While I may be somewhat familiar with the issues surrounding border security and immigration, terrorism and terrorists, tax reform, the economy, the environment, our health, our military conflicts, education, the oil spill in the gulf, and the ongoing tragedy of Lindsay Lohan, just to name a few, I can not hope to become and remain fully informed on all of them. So, what’s a voter to do?

I have decided that for the time being and for the foreseeable future I’m going to pick one as my primary issue. I’ll still follow the other important issues, of course, but my primary issue will be my focus. And, this primary issue is going to be tax reform, or more specifically the FairTax.

The November elections will soon be upon us and all the candidates will march about saying all the things they think we want to hear. Their position on most issues is predictable. No candidate is going to come out against border security, or for terrorism. Their positions on most issues will differ only by degrees and approach.

But, the issue of the FairTax is a line in the sand. The FairTax specifically proposes the abolishment of the federal income tax, and its replacement with a national consumption tax. American citizens, tourists, immigrants, anyone who spends money in America at the retail level will contribute to our national coffers. We determine how much tax we pay by how much we spend, and everyone pays the same percentage amount. The government’s ability to control the Country by manipulating the tax code goes away. And, any political candidate who supports handing the reins of the Country back over to the citizens of the Country by passing and enacting the FairTax is worthy of serious consideration.

I chose this as my primary issue because I am convinced that passing the FairTax plan is the single most important step we can take in preserving this republic of the United States of America. Our politicians and our government have become corrupt beyond reason and they will not correct themselves. Only by forcing them to relinquish their power to manipulate the flow of money can we hope to find equilibrium.

This is not to say that the other issues we face are not equally important, but I believe the FairTax is our best chance of returning our Country to prosperity through government by the people.

So, in the coming months we will be looking more closely at the FairTax plan and how it is meant to work. We will also look into the political candidates who support it or don’t support, as well as those who merely claim to support it as a bid for your vote.

If you want to learn more about the FairTax I urge you to visit the Americans for Fair Taxation Web site at www.FairTax.org.

Send this tea bag to Washington

There has been a lot of noise made recently about sending tea bags to Washington to express our growing concerns about unfair and exorbitant taxes. While I think this is a great idea in theory it is not very practical. For one thing the  tea bags will likely not get past the security measures at the Post Office, and for another you would be paying yet another tax in the form of postage to get it there.

Here is the next best thing to inundating our elected officials with an office full of tea bags. Inundate their inboxes with thousands of images of tea bags.  Be sure and include a message regarding your concerns about our tax system. Be respectful, as you would to your neighbor, but not submissive. They need to understand how you feel.

You can find contact links to your elected officials, both Federal and State, by going to the Congress.org web site. Just type in your zip code and you’re off.

For your convenience here is my favorite tea bag image. Feel free to use it or find your own favorite. You can find lots of tea bag images here.

Supporting your government is a duty; taxation is a burden; excessive taxation is tyranny.  Let Freedom Ring.

Sincerely,

Tim Couch

I took my truck in to have some service work done this morning. After dropping it off I walked down to the local McDonald’s for breakfast. Just as I was finishing off a second McMuffin my phone rang, and as these things go my one hour service job suddenly became a three hour repair job. As I had some time on my hands I took the opportunity to do a little people watching.

I had taken up temporary residence in a quiet corner of the restaurant where I had a pretty good view of the action. I watched as the customers came and went. I observed the bustle behind the counter as the employees went about their business. It was all pretty ordinary fare for a Friday morning McDonald’s, even down to the “Guys.”

The Guys are as much a staple of McDonald’s as is Ronald. No matter where in the world you go to a McDonald’s restaurant, during a particular part of the day, most every day of the week you will find, the Guys. They are a group of men, usually retired but not always, who gather over cups of steaming coffee for discussion. They sit and sip coffee and discuss current events and politics and philosophy and girls and cars and physical ailments and absent friends and whatever else comes up. And, at some point someone will approach their table and with genuine cheer they will say, “Hi Guys!”

But, there was something different about the Guys this morning. Maybe it was the way they were positioned around the table that made it look more like a Board meeting than a gathering of the Guys. Perhaps it was their obvious ease with their surroundings that made them seem somehow, authoritative. I watched them, these silver haired elders, as they discussed the current topic with energy and animation. It occurred to me that if you replaced the baseball caps and the denim and fleece and flannel and tennis shoes with expensive suits, shirts, ties, and dress shoes, and then if you plucked these men from their seats and deposited them around a conference table in a swank office they would look exactly like the men of Congress and other politicians that we see on television.

And why couldn’t they be? What’s the difference between these men sitting around a table at McDonald’s, and the men and women on Capitol Hill whom we entrust to make decisions that effect our lives and the lives of our children? Is it intelligence? I don’t think so. This Country is swarming with intelligent people, and our politicians have not proven to be exceptionally intelligent or insightful. Is it wealth? Some of the wealthiest have tried and couldn’t get elected. The only difference between the Guys at McDonald’s and the Guys on the Hill is connections. Those with the connections get the votes.

So, why do we entrust them with our lives? The Guys at McDonald’s looked like a smart upstanding group of men, but I wouldn’t entrust them with my life or the future of my children. And yet, that’s exactly what we do with the Guys on the Hill every day. We elect ‘em and forget ‘em, and then if our lives aren’t better when the next election cycle comes around we elect someone else who promises change. The change we need is not going to come from government or occur within government. The change is going to have to come from us. Ideas, Solutions, Insistence; that is the change we need.

The time is come to pay attention, to step up, and to make your voice heard. Stop looking to government for the answers. Government doesn’t hold the answers; government holds the purse strings, and as long as it does you are at its mercy. Learn about the FairTax plan. It returns control of your money to you. It’s our best hope of restoring sanity to our government. And, it will only happen when enough people rise up and demand it.

Sincerely,

Tim Couch

The ‘Special Order’ non-legislative debate on the FairTax plan hosted by Iowan Congressman Steve King marked a milestone moment in the FairTax movement. The bill (HR 25, S 296) now has fifty-one co-sponsors from both sides of the political aisle in Washington, more co-sponsors than ever before. This is a grass-roots movement with legs that will eventually become law. The only question that still exists is how much damage will the politicians do before the people insist on the passage of this bill.

The full video of the ‘Special Order’ debate is below. The first few minutes will give you a good idea of what the FairTax is about. Give it a listen. It’s good stuff.