Florida Senate urges Congress to Repeal the Federal Income Tax by Rudy Treml

secretary-bio

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner

“The current income tax system requires individual taxpayers to prepare annual tax returns using many complicated forms, causing innocent errors that are heavily punished.” 

This is an excerpt from Senate Memorial 118, adopted by the Florida Legislature during its 2014 session and sent to Washington, D.C., urging Congress to eliminate the Internal Revenue Service.

It’s true! The position paper – also known as SM-118 – was sent to our president on behalf of the State of Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner on May 22, 2014.

In his cover letter, Detzner wrote, “This Memorial urges Congress to repeal all taxes on income and enact a national retail sales tax as specified in H.R. 25, the FairTax Act.”

SM-118 has a prose style similar to that of the U.S. Declaration of Independence authored by Thomas Jefferson and approved by the 13 American Colonies in July 1776. That declaration listed grievances against King George III, which justified the demand of the United States for freedom from the British Empire.

SM-118, also, lists grievances placed upon U.S. citizens by the federal income-tax system, to justify the demand for a national sales tax in place of an income tax, as well as the abolishment of the IRS and the repeal of the 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The current tax system, according to SM-118, erodes jobs, retards economic growth, has reduced the standard of living for U.S. citizens, forces family farms to be sold so taxes can be paid, unnecessarily intrudes on citizens’ privacy, isn’t complied with at acceptable levels, has a disproportionate adverse impact on lower-income people, and imposes unacceptable compliance costs.

Our 160 elected representatives in the Florida Legislature have urged the United States Congress to enact H.R. 25, the FairTax Act, which was reintroduced into the 114th Congress on Jan. 6. U.S. Reps. John Mica and Ron DeSantis are co-sponsors of H.R. 25, as are seven other U.S. House members from Florida and another 55 co-sponsors from other states.

H.R. 25 eliminates all federal taxes on productivity (income) in favor of a national consumption tax. It also replaces Social Security and Medicare taxes. It eliminates all corporate taxes thereby making the USA the preferred worldwide manufacturing destination, and bringing jobs back to the USA while growing our economy.

With the passage of H.R. 25, the IRS is defunded and April 15 becomes just another spring day. Citizens control their tax obligation via their spending habits, and there is no sales tax on used items.Everyone is treated equally under a progressive national consumption tax. Those who spend the most pay the most tax. Plus, H.R. 25 authorizes the return of the federal sales tax paid by U.S. citizens for the necessities of life, in the form of a rebate.

The FairTax Act of 2015 is about 130 pages long, compared to the current 75,000-plus pages of income tax codes and regulations.

The FairTax is simple to understand, efficient to collect, hard to avoid, and visible, so taxpayers see the true cost of their government.

With its passage, no longer would politicians be able to use the tax code to reward their friends, punish their enemies, and do social engineering.

ABOUT RUDY TREML

Rudy Treml is a longtime proponent of the FairTax, and an activist with the Florida FairTax Educational Association.