FAIRtax Power Radio

2023 had promised to be a watershed year for the FAIRtax. In order to secure the Speakership of the House, Kevin McCarthy had to promise to bring the FAIRtax up for a vote—something that hasn’t happened since the FAIRtax was first introduced into Congress in 1999. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and Kevin McCarthy is no longer Speaker. It remains to be seen whether or not Speaker Mike Johnson w...

The Federal tax code is constantly changing. Every session, thousands of bills are introduced into Congress to amend the tax code is one way or another. Most of these proposals go unnoticed by the general public, but every week the FAIRtax Guys are looking for the best of the best, or in some cases, the worst of the worst examples of just how insanely complicated the tax code really is. In this ye...

December 6, 2023 was a significant day for the FAIRtax. That’s the day that AFFT president Steve Hayes testified before the House Ways and Means subcommittee on taxation. While Congress is still a long way from enacting real tax reform, it’s encouraging to see that the FAIRtax is still in the conversation when it comes to deciding exactly what that reform should look like. This week Steve joins th...

Economists will tell you that there a number of different laws, like the Law of Supply and Demand, that define how our economic system works. Here’s one they probably won’t tell you about, but it’s certainly true nonetheless. “Never underestimate a politician’s lust for your money”. As our nation’s debt soars, the politicians in Washington are constantly looking for new and different ways to get i...

Compared to the income tax, the FAIRtax is an exceedingly simple and easy to understand method of raising the money the Federal government needs to operate and provide services that people need and demand. Even so, since it’s such a radical departure from the taxation we’ve known all our lives, people have questions about what the FAIRtax is, how it works, and how it will impact their lives. This...

The FAIRtax FAQ at fairtax.org is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to know more about what the FAIRtax is, how it works and why it’s fair. In this edition of FAIRtax Power Radio, the FAIRtax Guys look at why the FAIRtax is truly a fair tax. They examine the effect of the prebate on families of different income levels and also tackle the question of whether or not it’s fair to give rich fam...

Steve Hayes is the president of Americans for Fair Taxation. He has been involved in the effort to replace the income tax with a consumption tax since well before the FAIRtax was developed and introduced into Congress. This week, Steve sits down with the FAIRtax Guys and offers his thoughts on everything from the recent turmoil in the House of Representatives regarding the Speakership to how schoo...

Back in February, economist Nathan Goldman at North Carolina State University in Raleigh published an article purporting to answer common questions people may have about the FAIRtax. You would think that an economist would understand what a boon the FAIRtax would be for the American economy. Unfortunately, this article seems to be a thinly veiled attack on the FAIRtax repeating many of the inaccur...

The IRS has announced what it calls “a sweeping effort to restore fairness to the tax system”. In a nutshell, the IRS says it’s going to make tax compliance fairer by concentrating its enforcement and auditing efforts on higher income taxpayers, partnerships, large corporations and promoters who are abusing the tax rules. This week, the FAIRtax guys look at the actual IRS announcement published at...

The FAIRtax Guys are grateful for the radio stations that carry FAIRtax Power Radio at no charge as a public service. The flagship station for this effort is WTOB in Winston-Salem, NC where Bob Scarborough is employed. Usually, the radio stations rebroadcast programs that have already streamed live on our video platforms. However, once a year the Guys switch things up and do a live program on WTOB...

Congressman John Linder from Georgia was a pioneer in the FAIRtax movement. He was the original sponsor of the FAIRtax bill when it was first introduced into Congress. He also co-wrote the two best selling FAIRtax books with Neal Boortz. John recently sat down with the FAIRtax Guys for a wide ranging conversation covering everything from how the current scramble for House Speaker may affect the FA...

There is a lot of good information at fairtax.org regarding what the FAIRtax is, how it works, and what kind of impact it will have on the economy and on our lives. One area of concern that many have is how the FAIRtax will affect their healthcare. In 2017, Dr. Karen Walby wrote an article detailing how the FAIRtax will be applied in the healthcare industry and shared a case study involving a fami...

This past March after the FAIRtax had been promised a vote in the House of Representatives, Brookings Institute, a long time member of the Washington establishment, published an article supposedly analyzing the FAIRtax. Like many others before it, Brookings had to twist the FAIRtax into something it isn’t in order to muster and argument against it. Like many others before it, the article was full...

Last week, the FAIRtax Guys began discussing a case before the Supreme Court that could have a monumental impact on the kind of taxes you may be subject to in the future. The critical question the court is being asked to answer is whether or not the government can tax money that you have not actually received. Tax attorneys Steve Hayes and John Richardson continue their analysis of this case and d...

It’s not making waves in the media, but there is a case before the Supreme Court that could have huge implications for what taxation in America will look like moving forward. The basic question the court will have to decide is whether or not the government can tax money you have not actually received. To help you understand all the ramifications of this case, the FAIRtax Guys have invited two tax...

John Richardson is an attorney living in Canada who specializes in helping American citizens living outside the US deal with the unique problems our US tax code imposes on those citizens. Recently, he issued a rather surprising recommendation—renounce your US citizenship now. Whether it’s by coincidence or by design, the Internal Revenue Code is driving people away from the United States. This wee...

In the years since it was first introduced, Congress has paid precious little attention to the FAIRtax. Judging from that, it would be easy to believe that your Congressional representatives never hear about the FAIRtax and that many don’t know anything about it. Unfortunately, the truth is that Congress DOES know about the FAIRtax. They just choose to ignore it. This week on FAIRtax Power Radio,...

A lot of people make a lot of money off the current income/payroll tax system. The FAIRtax would derail their gravy train. So, it’s no wonder that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s promise to bring the FAIRtax to a vote in this Congress has brought opposition to the FAIRtax out of the woodwork. In their latest round of setting the record straight, The FAIRtax Guys dissect a January 2023 article from...

A few weeks ago, the FAIRtax Guys rebutted the points made in a letter that was sent to all the FAIRtax cosponsors in Congress. That letter was authored by economic advisor Grover Norquist on behalf of his organization Americans for Tax Reform. In the letter, Norquist made numerous wild and inaccurate representations about the FAIRtax in urging cosponsors to withdraw their support for the bill. Th...

As taxpayers, the IRS owes us at least a minimum standard of care when it comes to protecting the personal data that we must give them on our tax returns. At the very least, they should ensure that our data doesn’t fall into unauthorized hands and of course, they need to keep track of where they put it. Unfortunately, the IRS is failing miserably on both counts. There have been multiple leaks of c...

Recently, a well known organization that advocates for tax reform sent a letter to all the FAIRtax cosponsors in Congress urging them to withdraw their support. Unfortunately, this letter bore a striking resemblance to the article we discussed a few weeks ago that was written by a man who owns a tax preparation service. In both cases, the authors made wildly inaccurate claims about the FAIRtax tha...

If there’s one constant about the income tax code and the IRS, it’s that it’s constantly changing. That’s documented every week on FAIRtax Power Radio in the congress.gov segment. Apparently, internal policy at the IRS is not exactly a stable entity either. This week, the FAIRtax Guys look at another Epoch Times article concerning a recent IRS policy change. Citing security concerns, the IRS has a...

A couple weeks ago, FAIRtax Power Radio reported on an IRS raid where a gun store owner was met by armed agents who confiscated thousands of names and addresses of people who had bought firearms at the store. Well, they’ve done it again. This week the FAIRtax guys discuss an Epoch Times article that describes another armed IRS raid on a business in Florida. We didn’t get much detail this time, but...

For over a century, the government has been collecting sensitive personal and financial data on people in order to collect an income tax. And for over a century, the government has been assuring people that their sensitive data will be held in the strictest confidence. The law says it’s a felony to disclose a taxpayer’s confidential data without permission. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped peopl...

In another dazzling display of competence and accuracy, the IRS recently sent out thousands of payment due notices with the wrong due date. Because of a number of natural disasters in California, people in some California counties have been granted an extension from April 18 to October 16 on when their 2022 taxes are due. Imagine their shock and surprise when the IRS sends them a notice that basic...