Posted by
Mike on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 10:30:48 AM
It pains me to have to write this because I have been a long time listener and fan of Hugh Hewitt. However, his personal vendetta against the FairTax significantly diminishes the respect I had for his opinions and insights.
It is one thing if he were to pick on some aspects of the FairTax that he didn’t like or didn’t think would work and make some cogent arguments on how they should be changed or eliminated. Instead, for whatever reasons, he started with the idea that the whole concept of FairTax was a “nightmare” and set about to conjure up the worst case scenario for every aspect of it. The FairTax idea has been around for a long time and been reviewed and scrutinized by many people. Now, all of a sudden, a lawyer (Hugh) and a former tax accountant (Hank) have uncovered it as a “fantasy”. How could all those politicians and economists have not seen this? Is it possible that Hugh and Hank are the only enlightened ones able to see through the “fantasy”? Unfortunately, this reminds me a lot of a former Vice President who came up with a man-made global warming crisis and put a bunch of “scientific facts” in a movie that he could sell to a gullible public. Just like global warming is a crisis and there is nothing good about it, in Hugh’s mind the FairTax is a pending disaster and there is nothing good about it.
Every objection they have is based on various bad things that they think will happen when the FairTax is enacted. Every one of them has already been addressed in the FAQ on the www.fairtax.org website which I’m sure Hugh hasn’t read. Instead, Hugh manufactures scenarios that the FairTax rate is not going to be enough to fund the federal government (even though it is set to be revenue-neutral), the states can’t handle the administration (even though 45 already process sales taxes), prices would rise (even though the cost of goods would be reduced by eliminating payroll taxes, etc.), tax evasion and corruption would run rampant (no reason it would be any worse than it is with income taxes) and baseless scenarios where people couldn’t afford to buy homes, companies would have to pay taxes for new employees they hire and the beginning of a trade war. He also brings in the liberal mainstay of class warfare by stating that that the rich will benefit from the FairTax. Gee, maybe they will use their extra money to start companies, hire more people or invest it in the stock market! Finally, he says we just can’t do something this big and it would be a disaster for Republicans in 2010.
Come on Hugh, America is all about doing big and bold things! And, with Obamanomics taking this country down the road to no return, this is the perfect time to replace the confiscatory tax code that he is using to take us there. The implementation of the FairTax would be a boon for Republicans because it would take away the class warfare (“soak the rich”, “they can afford to pay more taxes”, “spread the wealth”, etc.) that Democrats use to win elections. With the FairTax, the tax revenue can no longer be attributed to individuals and their income levels. All that the politicians will have then is a big pot of money and they will have to decide how to divvy it up. It will likely help control the size of government because any increase in the FairTax rate past the revenue-neutral point will increase prices for all goods and services and be a hard sell to voters who will all be impacted. Instead, Republicans can push for smaller government through a reduction in the FairTax rate and the corresponding decrease in prices.
Those of you that are buying into Hugh’s FairTax Fantasy need to go to the FairTax website and start researching this on your own. The FAQ section is especially good because it addresses many of the concerns people initially have. Don’t waste your money on the FairTax Fantasy book. Hugh’s lame objections to the FairTax can be heard in the podcasts of his radio show and in the future debates he wants to have on the topic. Instead, take the $15 and make a donation to FairTax.org. This is the next best thing you can do after attending the TEA parties. It will take a grassroots movement from all of us to implement the big and bold FairTax.
Sorry Hugh. If you have a better idea than the FairTax, then write it up so we can compare both of them and make our choice. Right now the FairTax is the way to go and trying to stop it without an alternative simply helps Obama drive this country toward socialism.
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