Hearing of Ways and means Committee on Tax Reform

Hearing of Ways and means Committee on Tax Reform

On Wednesday, June 8, the House Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing on fundamental tax reform. The hearing focused on the principle economic objectives of tax reform with a focus on fairness, simplicity, and impacts on growth and ways to make compliance and understanding of the tax code simpler for American workers and businesses.

Congressman John Linder (R-GA), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, asked the witnesses several questions about the key principles of tax reform that must be met as Congress considers fundamental reform. "America needs a tax system that is fair, protects the poor, treats all Americans the same, and is easy to understand," Linder said. "This new system must be voluntary, not coercive or intrusive. It must be transparent, eliminating hidden taxes and ensuring that all Americans know what the government costs. Our reform efforts must also be border-neutral so that our exports are free of the burden of the tax code and can become competitive around the world. Fundamental reform must stop picking winners and losers through the tax code and ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security and Medicare."

"Today's hearing has started the process of advancing a fair and simple tax code and has laid the foundation for this Committee to consider tax proposals recommended by the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform," Linder continued. "The current system is a nightmare of complexity that punishes work, saving, investment, risk-taking, and entrepreneurship. We owe it to our citizens to put in place a system that makes every taxpayer a voluntary taxpayer paying taxes when they choose, as much as they choose, by how they choose to spend."

Congressman Linder is the sponsor of the "FairTax," H.R. 25. The FairTax would shift the federal government's method of revenue collection from income-based taxes to a personal consumption tax and would repeal all federal personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, self-employment taxes, capital gains taxes, and gift and estate taxes, and replace these taxes with a revenue-neutral 23 percent personal consumption tax on all retail sales of new goods and services.

For more information about the FairTax, please visit Congressman Linder's online office at http://linder.house.gov.

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