Joseph Knight

1. FOOD OFF MY TABLE ­ LITERALLY. My name has so many red flags on government computers that I'm convinced I would never see a 'prebate' check. I am living on $500 a month. I don't pay rent but I DO have to cover everything else: food, utilities, transportation, medical, clothes, my activism addiction ­ and it's a damn Spartan lifestyle. The 'fair' tax would steal $150 of that and put me in a real hurt.

2. MY ELDERLY FATHER WOULD BE ROBBED. He's 90 and living on his life's savings. He's ALREADY paid federal taxes on EVERY DAMNED DOLLAR of it and would lose a third of his purchasing power if he had to pay federal taxes on it again as he spends it. He just bought a riding lawn mower for 2K. The 'fair' tax would have stuck him for another $600 (not counting state sales tax) and the 'prebate' wouldn't cover that.

3. HOMELESS AND OTHERS COULDN'T CASH CHECKS. Many don't have a mailing address to receive a check, nor a bank account to cash it. You ALREADY have to have a government-issued ID to cash checks, all of which are 'Real ID' under the new police state laws. The welfare-dependency relationship inflicted on every household would make it harder to opt out of the police state.

4. I WOULD BE FORCED TO SUPPORT THE WAR IN IRAQ. I don't currently pay federal taxes and intend to keep it that way. But I just can't get everything I need in the underground economy. I'm a Vietnam Veteran who hates unnecessary wars and anybody who forces me to support this one by paying war taxes is my enemy.

5. AUTHORITARIAN POLITICANS WOULD USE THE GOVERNMENT CHECKS TO BUY VOTES. I can see the Reptiles and Demagogues in a bidding war already! For the poor who CAN get the checks, this amounts to another involuntary wealth re-distribution program. (If I COULD get the checks, I'd actually come out a little ahead ­ I would be put on 'welfare' which is something I've managed to avoid in spite of my largely self-imposed poverty. I don't WANT no damned government check ­ I just want to be left alone.)

6. MANY PEOPLE WOULD BLAME THE LP. This is a very visible tax. If we 'branded' the LP name onto it, a lot of folks would think 'damned Libertarians' every time they bought something.

7. THE 'FAIR' TAX DOES NOTHING TO REDUCE THE COST OF GOVERNMENT. This is what Libertarians should be focusing on.

8. A NEW BUREACRACY WOULD BE CREATED TO ADMINSITER THE PROGRAM. Businesses would still be forced to collect the tax and this would still constitute involuntary servitude. And somebody has to send out all of those checks. But it wouldn't be the IRS. (It would be the IRS under a new name).

9. INITIATION OF FORCE. A sales tax violates our right to the free exchange of goods and services.

10. THE LP WOULD LOSE IT'S SOUL. Once we compromise away our principled stand on taxes, the domino theory would apply. In short order, we would be just another party, the lesser of evils, and no longer a real defender of liberty. LP candidates promoting the 'fair' tax would cause unhealthy division and in-fighting within the party.

See:
The FAIRTAX: A TROJAN HORSE FOR AMERICA? By Claire Wolfe & Aaron Zelman http://www.jpfo.org/fairtax.htm