Labor Day 2009 Tea Party Address

By

Ron Woodward

232 years ago here in this place Yorktown, Virginia, Lord Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington. Ending a war fought over the imposition of unfair taxes securing the existence of our United States. This is a fitting place to join our war against an unfair tax system imposed by a government that has forgotten who we are and why we exist. We are a nation descended from risk takers entrepreneurs seeking a better life where we are free to pursue our dreams. Free to worship as we please and free to profit from our labor. 

Our wealth does not come from government. When a crop is harvested so we may eat, who has earned our gratitude? The Farmer.  When a sick child is cured, who do we thank? The doctor. When we send an email or twitter with friends, who has made this wonder possible? The engineers and entrepeners who risked their time and money to create the technological wonders at our fingertips. Government did none of this. Government is not a producer. The government plants no fields, cures no disease, drills no oil wells, builds no house nor writes any book. These things that we enjoy every day are what makes up our wealth, our standard of living, our home, our place of shining opportunity to the world. Government does none of these things. Government deserves no credit. 

Government has become a taker. When government takes from the producers of wealth and gives to those who sell their votes instead of labor it institutionalizes sloth. Sloth is a deadly sin that leads only to destruction. Government has become the ultimate taker. The ultimate manipulator. It has grown beyond the position of protector of our freedoms envisioned by our founding fathers. It has become a set of chains enslaving us. Subjecting us to the desires and excesses of the political class all in the name of serving the greater good.

Clever orators, decievers who through tempting words and promises of benefits without cost are promoted to the pinecals of power in our nation. Through that power and eloquence they have imprisoned us. What are we to do? How do we escape this subtle imprisonment? We must break their strangle hold on our achievers and doers. We must remove their primary tool of plunder. The tool they use to reward their friends and punish their enemies. The tool they use to conceal their intent and to control our lives. We must burn off the fog of 70,000 pages of tax regulations used to hide the true cost of government. We must eliminate the complex web of taxes on wages and income and replace it with a system that is simple.

The cost of government cannot shrink as long as the politicians can convince the voting majority that they do not pay, but someone else pays for the cost of government. This is a false belief, a belief offered as fact without reason. Let us expose this lie by asking the question, Where does that someone else get the money to pay those heavy taxes? Every dollar received by those that pay comes from us the voting majority the consumers of our country. They get it from us when we buy a loaf of bread or a pair of jeans! It is hidden in the inflated price we must pay for each and every good or service we consume. We must have a tax system that is transparent one that exposes to all the true cost of government.

Our tax burden is immense and distributed unfairly. Those that work for low wages have every dollar taxed for Social Security and Medicare. Hidden on top of that our governments largess inflates the price of everything we buy 28% over the true untaxed cost. $22 of every $100 we spend feeds a growing monster of federal expendatures. Is it fair that those struggling to just survive be subjected to these cruel taxes? I think not. However, if you truly believe, as I do, that all people are created equal then we must treat everyone the same. How can we protect those among us that need it and yet treat everyone the same?  We must have a tax system that through its simple and transparent features ensures fairness for all.

In 1994 Leo Linbeck a wise determined man frustrated by our unfair taxes gathered a group of other men not unlike our founding fathers. These men were not politicians they were entrepreneurs doers and problem solvers men uninterested in gaining and holding the power of government. These men developed a tax plan that will when implemented achieve these three essential goals of simplicity, transparency and fairness. Representative John Linder of Georgia first introduced the plan as the FairTax Act on July 14, 1999. The bill has been reintroduced each session of congress since continuing to gain sponsors and supporters as the public becomes aware of what the FairTax is, how it will change America and then insisting their representatives support it.

The FairTax Plan achieves transparency by eliminating all taxes that can be hidden in the prices of goods and services including federal income taxes, corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes.  It shows you how much tax you pay each time you pay it. The FairTax is made simple by eliminating all paperwork for taxpayers and having a single tax rate. Each time you choose to buy a new product or service you will pay the FairTax as you currently pay any retail sales tax. The true stroke of genius is what makes it fair! Every citizen is paid a refund of taxes on the cost of the essentials of life. Not a refund paid once a year after filing piles of paperwork, but a refund paid every month before you pay the taxes!

What does this really mean?  It means the FairTax will immediatly increase your take home pay by the amount of your current federal withholdings plus the amount of the pre tax refund or (Prebate). When you go shopping you will pay the price of the items you buy plus the FairTax sales tax. No records, no forms, no 1099s. When you buy you pay. Transparent - The tax is printed on the receipt, Simple - one rate no matter what you buy, Fair - every citizen rich or poor gets the prebate so everyone can live tax-free. If you choose to buy more than just the essentials then you pay more tax. The more you buy the more tax you pay.

Why do we need to do this? Why change our tax system? The current tax system is a lie and a cheat. It hides the true cost of government. It conceals the favors granted by politicians. The FairTax will make obvious to all the runaway cost of Government. It will reinforce the message that Government is too large it is too controlling. Each time you purchase something and pay an additional 30% above the untaxed cost it will show all the obvious truth that the government is doing too much. That we have demanded it do too much and that we must demand that our government does less.

The deceit of those cleaver orators will be laid bare for all to see. No tempting words will conceal the ever-present reminder of the chains we wear. Reawakened the American spirit of self sufficiency, personal freedom and responsibility will drive the deceivers from office and free us from the prison they have built. Winning our war and liberating us from unfair taxes, thus securing the existence of our United States for us, our children and our posterity.

Thank you

Q&A