What About the Fair Tax?

Since announcing my intention to explore a Libertarian run for the Georgia Senate seat up for grabs in 2010 I have been asked one question more than others. That question is: Where do you stand on the Fair Tax?

To the frustration of many I have waved off the question, citing a genuine ambivalence on the topic. The belief that we are overtaxed is the motivating force behind my decision to consider trading in radio headphones for the life of a politician. The rallying cry for my campaign would be Less Tax, More Freedom because I believe there is an inverse relationship between the two. I believe the more tax an individual is forced to pay, the less free that individual is. Conversely, the less tax a person pays, the more freedom that person enjoys.

This is the main argument I look forward to taking to the voters of the state. It is an argument that posits low taxation as something beyond a way to keep more money in our own hands. I intend to champion a policy of low taxation as the best guarantor of maximum human freedom.

Everyone- Left, Right, & Center claim a desire to be free. My campaign will challenge voters to examine what it means to be free and whether they are willing to assume more personal and community responsibility in order to regain and cement the freedoms they claim to cherish. This should prove to be a Herculean task given the current state of affairs in this country.

President Obama and his party’s collectivist notions have been so successful at the ballot box over the last few years they have convinced many top Republicans it is time for a change of course. When the elephants consider the jettisoning of Reaganism in favor of a more collectivist approach signs abound that supply-side Libertarians are on life-support. I will have my work cut out for me.

So where do I stand on the Fair Tax?

I do not have a problem with the Fair Tax. I don’t doubt its efficacy or legitimacy. And I look forward to a time when something so beneficial can be enacted into law. But it’s my opinion that the current political landscape is not conducive to Fair Tax success in the short term. Getting such sweeping tax legislation passed in this atmosphere is about as likely as coaxing an oak tree to grow in the desert. There is no soil to be tilled. Never mind the seed.

I applaud the Fair Tax movement but it is not my cause. I have no competing cause but rather, believe we first need elected voices that trumpet true liberty. I wish it were possible to immediately turn the tax code on its head. But it seems to me we’ll first need a movement of likeminded politicians to create the soil from which monumental change can grow.

My hope is that once enough voters come to see the link between taxation and freedom there will emerge a groundswell of support for major tax reform. Until then I will fight for the lowest taxes possible in order to secure the most freedom possible.

I believe that a Flat Tax, while far from perfect, is a solid first step. If we can convince the public to enact a Flat Tax the next step should be to throw all our effort behind the repealing of the sixteenth amendment. If that onerous amendment is successfully repealed we will know the political landscape is fertile for something as groundbreaking as the Fair Tax.

I know many will be disappointed with my go-slow approach on this topic. But don’t confuse an issue of timing with a true breach on the issue. I believe undue taxation represents the modern equivalent of the slaveholder’s whip. I am a soldier in the fight. But I believe we must first labor to sew in the fields if we’re ever one day to reap in the bounty.

Less Tax, More Freedom is my message.