**WHAT IS THE FAIRTAX?**\
The FairTax is non-partisan legislation (HR 25/S 1493) that abolishes
personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, earned
income, and replaces them all with one simple, visible, federal retail
sales tax.  The FairTax dramatically changes the basis for taxation by
eliminating the root of the problem:  Taxing income and the IRS.  The
FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend, not on what we earn. 
It does not raise any more or less revenue; it is designed to be revenue
neutral, so it is also price neutral.  The final cost for goods and
services changes little under the FairTax.  The FairTax is a fair,
efficient, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of
our current tax system.

**AND WHAT ABOUT THE FLAT TAX?**

Some of the people that we would love to have supporting the FairTax
have weighed in in support of a flat tax instead.  So \... here\'s some
flat tax vs. FairTax issues you may want to consider.

1.  In 1986, the Congress reformed our tax code to essentially give us a
    flat tax \... a flat tax with two rates.  Fifteen and twenty-eight
    percent.  Most deductions were eliminated.  Today\'s tax code is the
    result of that effort.

2.  A flat tax leaves the IRS in place.  You\'ll still have to report
    your income to the IRS every year, and you\'ll still be subject to
    audits.

3.  Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes?  Still there.

4.  Do you get 100% of your paycheck?  No. Withholding will still be
    there.

5.  Business taxes?  Still there .. and they\'ll remain embedded in the
    price of every good and service you buy, so you\'ll be paying them.

6.  Corporate board meetings?  They\'ll still spend an inordinate amount
    of time working on the tax implications of business decisions,
    rather than just basing their business moves on what\'s best for
    their customers and shareholders.

7.  K Street lobbyists?  They\'re still there too.  They\'ll still be
    drawing their six-figure incomes while they game the new flat-tax
    for the benefit of their clients.

8.  Bring American businesses back home?  Nope.  Business taxes are
    still there, so American businesses will still locate their
    operations overseas in order to escape our punishing business income
    taxes.

9.  Death Tax?  Gift Tax?  Still there in all the flat tax proposals
    I\'ve seen.

10. Will the flat tax bring American wealth back home?  The latest
    estimates put \$10 trillion of American wealth in offshore financial
    corporations.  There is only one reason that money isn\'t back here
    working \... and that\'s our income tax structure.  Will the flat
    tax bring that money back home?  Nope.  The FairTax?  Yup.

11. What about the poor?  They\'re not paying income taxes now \... will
    they pay the flat tax?  No way!  But politicians will still be
    looking for a way to raise taxes on the rich so that they can
    relieve the poor, poor pitiful poor of the responsibility for paying
    for their own Social Security and Medicare. 

12. Will all Americans be able to buy the basic necessities of life
    without any federal tax consequences under the flat tax?  No.  The
    FairTax?  Yes.

13. Will foreign visitors to our shores contribute to our Social
    Security and Medicare programs under the flat tax?  No.  The
    FairTax?  Yes.