One of the many positives outcomes of Governor Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign was the national awareness he brought to the FairTax and the need to overhaul our current tax system. I have to be honest – I had never heard of the Fair Tax. With the possible entrance of Senator Bob Barr into the presidential race, the FairTax will once again become part of the national dialogue. But how many Americans really understand it and why it is such a good idea for America?

One of the most interesting parts of this on going dialogue is how the Fair Tax came into being. So here goes. In 1995, “a group of three men in Texas” started thinking about how they could fix some of the problems they were witnessing in Texas which led to a conversation in which they asked the question, “What’s wrong? How can we help fix it?”(Fair, x). Their efforts resulted in an effort that saved Texans 1.5 billion in insurance premiums in the first three years alone! Notice I said 3 billion! That definitely caught my attention when I read it.

Ultimately, the success of their campaign to bring about change in Texas eventually the led these men to start thinking about how they could effect change outside of Texas. They began to ask themselves “What are the pressing problems that are hurting our nation as a whole?” They eventually came to the conclusion that our current tax code was in need of a major overhaul. What is especially interesting about these three gentlemen is that they were successful businessmen and philanthropists - Americans just like you and me who saw a problem, decided to search out a solution, and then designed a new system that fixes the problems incurred by the old system.

As businessmen, they had “spent countless hours pondering business decisions based not on what was good or bad for their employees, customers, and shareholders, but rather on what would have the best tax implications”(x). Yes, you read that right. Our tax code is set up in such a way that these men ended up spending more time on determining tax implications than on what was best overall for their companies (not that they didn’t do focus on the overall well-being of their company but that they found themselves spending an inordinate amount of time on the tax end of the spectrum).

As a result, they began “imagining a system in which decisions could be made based on what’s best for the individual or business, rather than on what would fly under our convoluted tax code”(x). These men innately understood that our current tax code “was crippling our economy”(xi). These discussions and imaginations eventually led these men to search out possible solutions to free businesses and the American people from the negative affects of our current, massive tax code.

As they went forward in their research, they decided to bring together a group of eight of the most “brilliant scholars and theorists” they could find to participate in a new “optimum reform effort” (xi). After putting together their team, they decided to find out what was most important to the customer – you and I – and engaged in massive research and questioning of the American populace to find out how we viewed the current tax system and what we wanted to see changed. They also asked economists to come up with their own designs of what they felt would be the best tax system built around the wishes of the American people!

What is amazing about this process is that these businessmen understood a critical truth that most of our politicians just can’t seem to grasp. They understood that the solution to this crisis already existed and could be found among we the people. We who are burdened everyday by the massive 67,000-page tax code that changes at the whim of our elected officials, were the ones best suited to offer up viable solutions to rectify it. In addition, although we the people didn’t create this nightmare of a mess, we innately knew how to fix it because we were the unfortunate customers of said system.

Neal Boortz in his book, Fair Tax: The Truth, makes an interesting assessment of these gentlemen when he says, “[…] those who have their economic house in order are the most willing to help others find that same success. Such was the motivation of these founders of the FairTax as they began telling their friends about their quest to develop a better tax code. It wasn’t long before offers of help and funding began to come in. Of course, the founders and their friends were receiving nothing for their efforts: no salary, no expense reimbursements, no perks, no profits. On the contrary, they all made contributions to the effort” (xii).

Several things jumped out at me when I read this. First of all, we the people don’t need our government to fix the problems we detect in our society. We have all the talent, intelligence, and wherewithal right here among us to solve every problem we face. Secondly, those with no political aspirations or connections were able to find solutions because they did not approach the problems with the lenses of self-gratification or preservation seen in many of our elected officials. Third, these gentlemen were able to find solutions because their motivation was on what was the best solution to “lift America up” not the furthering of one political party or ideology over another. Lastly, when the motivation to fixing a problem in America is approached with a deep desire for what is best for all Americans as a direct result of open dialogue with those very people, Americans get excited and jump on board becoming part of the solution.

In addition to polling Americans and getting their perspective on our current tax system, these men “decided a $4.5 million budget and an eighteen month window would allow them to: a) research what was needed, b) take the solutions to Congress, and c) help get it passed into law” (xiii). We of course now understand that they happened upon the realization that things don’t happen quickly in the Beltway. However, despite the time delay, this grassroots movement has continued forward, growing in leaps and bounds.

Once the “initial public opinion and economic research had been completed” the group decided it was time to see what we the people thought of it. After the AFFT (Americans for Fair Taxation) “ran a short advertising campaign introducing the FairTax concept and what it hoped to bring to America” they polled Americans once again. The results of the polling were surprising to “even the most seasoned advertising executives.” The American people absolutely loved the concept and were joining the movement in “unheard-of-numbers” (xv). Since this time, the AFFT has gathered more than “a million signatures on FairTax petitions, launched the www.fairtax.org Website, and began the national movement that continues today” (xvi).

In today’s presidential campaign we are hearing about how America needs change. I agree. But should that change come from our government or from we the people? Who better to come up with solutions to today’s problems than those of us who are daily confronted with the never-ending issues of our time? Mike Huckabee may have brought a national spotlight to the FairTax, but it is through the concerted efforts of you and I that a revolutionary solution to the increasingly heavy and volatile tax burden we carry, as a people, will be realized. Won’t you join today and become part of the solution to a problem we all agree we can do without?

Source: Boortz, Neale. The FairTax: The Truth-Answering the Critics. New York: Harper, 2008. Pgs ix-xxviii.

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