Lee Webb: Abolish the IRS and add a federal sales tax

Dear Editor:

Give us our Aprils Back!

With all the squabbling between Congress and the White House over the debt ceiling, this might be an excellent time to seriously consider the “Fair Tax”. Instead of letting the government ruin our beautiful springtimes, abolish the IRS and add a federal sales tax to the local & state taxes we now pay on all purchases.

A Fair Tax could have special tax-exempt provisions for the poor but it would democratically tax every purchase made, by rich and middle-class alike. It would make it impossible to claim an offshore home address or pay a staff of tax lawyers to find loopholes and deductions to evade taxation entirely (like GE).

The sticky part is setting what tax percentage should be paid. Would it be different for different types of purchases (ordinary everyday vs. luxury, etc.)? Would it include big, less often, purchases like homes and cars?

Let Congress squabble over the percentage tax figure and what to tax, but once that’s decided upon, it should be set so that the government could only spend the exact revenue created and no more; i.e., the iron-clad balanced budget amendment that we’ve needed for decades. Let our great country become solvent again and bring back decent interest rates (which the Fed has dropped to almost nothing to afford the interest on our horrendous debt).

Think about it and write your congressman if you agree.

Now I feel better.

Lee Webb
Broomfield