On several occasions, Donald Trump has said he would like to eliminate the income tax system and use tariffs as the primary means of funding the government. While it’s encouraging to see a major party Presidential candidate embrace the idea of getting rid of the income tax, are tariffs an appropriate replacement? This week, the FAIRtax Guys take on…

On Sunday October 20, the FAIRtax Guys did their annual live show from the studios of WTOB Radio in Winston-Salem, NC. A live show gives the Guys the chance to do something they can’t do on their normal Zoom sessions—take calls and speak directly with listeners. Almost from the instant the program went on the air, the phone was ringing and it didn’…

It’s an objection we hear over and over again—"Sales taxes are regressive. The FAIRtax will be a huge tax break for the rich and it will hurt the poor.” That may be true for typical sales taxes, but the FAIRtax is NOT like other sales taxes. This week the FAIRtax Guys dig into the research library at fairtax.org and discuss an article written by ec…

Taxes have been a fact of life from the days of the earliest civilizations, and there have been some truly bizarre things within the realm of taxation. But no tax system the earth has ever seen has been nuttier and more bizarre that the federal income tax system in the United States. This week, the FAIRtax Guys look at an article from 2017 outlinin…

The presidential candidates have come out in favor of exempting certain kinds of income from taxation. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris favor not taxing tips. Trump also favors shielding both Social Security benefits and overtime pay from the income tax. This week, AFFT president Steve Hayes joins the FAIRtax Guys to discuss what these positions…

What is income? It sounds like a simple question, but when the Internal Revenue Code enters the picture, it gets really complicated really fast. In their weekly look at proposed changes to the tax code, the FAIRtax Guys have run across hundreds of bills that would exempt certain income from taxation or remove that exemption from other kinds of inco…

Ask 50 different tax preparers what a particular family owes in income tax and you’ll get 49 different answers. With its ever changing myriads of exemptions, deductions, exclusions and credits, it’s impossible to predict what you’ll owe in income taxes. But with the FAIRtax, a very simple calculation can determine your tax liability with incredible…

IRS Publication 17 is a comprehensive guide designed to help taxpayers fill out their income tax returns correctly. In reality, it’s 142 pages detailing why the income tax is a hopelessly complicated mess that needs to be thrown out and replaced with the FAIRtax. It’s also Bob Scarborough’s favorite reading material. (Yeah, right). Join the FAIRtax…

Labor unions were spawned when employers imposed oppressive working conditions on their workers. The Internal Revenue Code has spawned a union of its own in the National Taxpayers Union. The NTU keeps an eye on Congress and rates its members on how their votes affect the taxpayers’ pockets. This week, the FAIRtax Guys examine the NTU scores for the…

Imagine ordering a dish in a restaurant that’s supposed to come with two sides. But, when your server brings your order, there’s only one. You’d notice that immediately and insist that she bring your second side. You want to get everything you paid for. But when you get your paycheck and a big chunk of it is missing, you don’t seem to mind. You pro…

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has uncovered a dirty little secret—there are thousands of people who work for the IRS who collectively owe millions of dollars in unpaid taxes. With illegal tax evasion standing at around $1 trillion a year, you’d think that the IRS would at least make sure its own workforce was abiding by the law, but that’s clearly not th…

Kamala Harris has picked up on Donald Trump’s idea of exempting tips from the income tax. Clearly, both candidates are trying to woo votes from workers in the service industries who rely on tips for their living. But what happens if you carry that idea even farther and stop taxing income altogether? This week the FAIRtax Guys examine an article pub…

The FAIRtax would represent a seismic shift in the paradigm of how taxes are collected in this country. Consequently, there are bound to be questions and criticisms regarding how the FAIRtax would work and the impact it would have on the American taxpayer. Some are honest, some are rooted in a vested interest in keeping the current income tax syste…

Over the years, the IRS has been described in a number of different ways. Kind, understanding and co-operative are not on the list. Instead, you’ll hear words like unreasonable, vicious, malicious, high-handed and vindictive. Some have even labeled the agency as a criminal enterprise that operates with a flagrant disregard for the law and without r…

Social Security and Medicare are two incredibly popular Federal programs that millions of seniors have grown to depend on in their retirement years. There’s only one problem. Both are going broke and politicians in both parties have been reluctant to make the tough changes necessary to bring them back to solvency. No one is going to get re-elected …

Since the FAIRtax was introduced into Congress in 1999, one thing has remained consistent. Economists from both sides of the aisle have been nearly unanimous in their agreement that a consumption tax like the FAIRtax would be much better for the economy than an income tax. This week, the FAIRtax Guys examine chapter 11 of the FAIRtax book in which …

The income tax is ridiculously easy to evade. The latest estimates say that illegal tax evasion costs the government around $1 trillion a year. A large part of the evasion problem is the fact that billions of dollars of income goes unreported. Drug dealers, prostitutes, and those working for cash off the books aren’t subject to withholding and don’…

The FAIRtax is unlike any other sales tax on the planet in that it does not tax every dollar someone spends. How can that be when the tax is included in the retail price of all new goods and services? Enter the FAIRtax prebate. This week, the FAIRtax Guys discuss the most important chapter in the FAIRtax book—Chapter 9, the prebate. This amazing fe…

In the first six chapters of the FAIRtax Book, authors Boortz and Linder cover a variety of problems with the current income tax system. This includes topics from withholding to how the income tax inflates the prices of all of the goods and services we buy. Beginning with chapter seven, the focus shifts to the FAIRtax. This week, the FAIRtax Guys e…

Prior to 2017, income had to realized before it was taxable. However, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act contained a repatriation provision that made certain unrealized income taxable. The constitutionality of that tax was challenged in court and just recently, the Supreme Court handed down its decision. This week on FAIRtax Power Radio, tax attorney and AF…

The FAIRtax Guys continue their journey through Boortz and Linder’s original FAIRtax book, published in 2005. This week, they tackle a subject that escapes most people’s attention—the embedded costs of the income tax system that are passed on to consumers in the prices of everything we buy. We never see them. They’re not listed on any receipt, but …

The FAIRtax book by Neal Boortz and John Linder is the definitive work highlighting the problems with the income tax system and presenting the FAIRtax as the elegantly simple solution to those problems. This week, the FAIRtax Guys use Boortz and Linder’s analysis to explode the myth of corporate taxation. The myth in question is that shifting some …

Neal Boortz and John Linder introduced the country to the FAIRtax in 2005 with the publication of their first FAIRtax book. The FAIRtax Guys are doing an extended series of FAIRtax Power Radio programs going back and using Boortz and Linder’s words to explain what’s wrong with the current income tax system and why the FAIRtax is a much better alter…

In 2005, Neal Boortz and John Linder wrote a fairly short book describing a revolutionary new way to fund the federal government. This new plan would let everyone bring home their entire paychecks, do away with filing tax returns and hang an “Out of Business” sign on the front door of the Internal Revenue Service. This week, the FAIRtax Guys begin …

The federal government is supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people. Unfortunately, with the cost of getting re-elected running in the multiplied millions of dollars, today’s government is more like of the people, by the lobbyists and for the lobbyists. This week, the FAIRtax Guys dig into opensecrets.org to get an idea of just…

Most people would readily agree that having more money in their pocket would be a good thing that would make a real difference in their everyday lives. This week, the FAIRtax Guys look at some of the ways that people’s lives would be better if they were living under the FAIRtax instead of the federal income tax system.…

John Linder is the retired Georgia Congressman who was the original sponsor of the FAIRtax bill when it was first introduced into Congress in 1999. He recently wrote a letter to Donald Trump detailing the many benefits of the FAIRtax and urging Mr. Trump to support it. This week, Dr. Linder joins the FAIRtax Guys to discuss the letter and the respo…

Any economist will tell you that investing is the lifeblood of a healthy economy. Businesses raise capital by selling stock. Investors risk their money to buy that stock expecting that the company will be profitable, that the value of the stock will rise and it can be sold at a profit. Anything that makes investing less profitable makes it harder f…

Navigating the federal income tax system is a nightmare. When it comes to doing their taxes, a great majority of Americans have to hire professional help—either in person or by using professionally prepared tax preparation software. This week, the FAIRtax Guys take a look at ten of the worst nightmares that American taxpayers face when dealing with…

Charles Littlejohn is a criminal. He committed a federal felony when he stole and leaked the confidential tax returns of several wealthy Americans including Donald Trump. Not surprisingly, there are a number of Washington elites who hail Littlejohn as a hero and think that he should be pardoned. This week, the FAIRtax Guys welcome AFFT president St…

When you look at all that ways that governments have devised to fund themselves, the Federal income tax system is the most ill-designed, most fraud prone, most error prone, most inefficient, most unfair, most invasive and most easily evaded system of them all. This week, the FAIRtax Guys take a look at 940,000 more reasons why the income tax should…

The FAIRtax does a lot of good things for individuals. It lets them bring home their whole paycheck, eliminates filing tax returns and provides them with a tax refund every month. The FAIRtax does a lot of good things for business as well. Join the FAIRtax Guys as they go thru a list of reasons why business owners—especially small business owners—s…

Millions of people are FAIRtax fans and don’t know it. After all, who wouldn’t want a bigger paycheck, a tax refund every month and freedom from ever having to fill out a tax return ever again. After taking a week off to talk to John Gaver about his new book, the FAIRtax Guys resume going over their list of all the things that people will like abou…

There’s a dirty little secret among the DC elites. They have written the tax code to benefit themselves, not the American taxpayer. They continue to insist that the income tax is fair and equitable while they continue to fill it chock full of loopholes, exemptions, deductions and credits that are bought and paid for by an army of DC lobbyists looki…

Oftentimes, people don’t know if they like something or not until they try it. With that in mind, it’s safe to say that there are undoubtedly millions of people who like the FAIRtax, but aren’t actively supporting it because they just don’t know anything about it. This week, the FAIRtax Guys begin a series pointing out all the things there are to l…

It was quite telling that ChatGPT’s analysis of the FAIRtax contained none of the outrageous lies told about the FAIRtax by those who have a vested interest in keeping the income tax system in place. To that end, the FAIRtax Guys take a look at some of the most outlandish lies and fabrications raised against the FAIRtax by our opponents and explain…

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is advancing at a breathtaking rate. But while computers are getting better at simulating human intelligence, machines still don’t have human emotions and prejudices. They still just analyze data. To that end, AFFT board member Randy Fischer asked ChatGPT what it thought of the FAIRtax. The result was eye ope…

The income tax system costs you a lot more than just the money you have to fork over in taxes. The compliance costs are huge. That’s the time, effort and additional money you have to spend just to comply with the tax code. This week, the FAIRtax Guys take an eye-opening look at just how much time, effort and money Americans spend filling out their …

One of the reasons that the Washington elites love the income tax so much is that it does a fantastic job of hiding from us just how much tax we really pay. Think you can determine your federal tax burden by looking at your paycheck stub or your income tax return? Think again. You’re not even close. AFFT president Steve Hayes joins the FAIRtax Guys…

You don’t have to be a FAIRtax volunteer for long to hear someone tell you that the FAIRtax is a great idea, but it will never pass. Well, there was a time when the idea of women voting seemed preposterous and those advocating for women’s suffrage were facing seemingly insurmountable odds. But they never gave up. It took decades to accomplish, but …

This is a rerun of the program that originally aired on Dec. 19. December 6, 2023 was a significant day for the FAIRtax. That’s the day that AFFT president Steve Hayes testified before the House Ways and Means subcommittee on taxation. While Congress is still a long way from enacting real tax reform, it’s encouraging to see that the FAIRtax is stil…

The income tax is irretrievably broken. It’s going to have to be replaced with something that’s fairer, easier to administer and comply with, and can’t be evaded. Some are promoting a flat tax as the fix for what’s wrong with the income tax. Unfortunately, a flat tax is still a tax on income and comes with many of the problems that plague the curre…

The Federal income tax is insanely complicated, flagrantly unfair, exorbitantly expensive to administer and enforce, and ridiculously easy to evade. It needs to be replaced. The two most talked about alternatives to the income tax are a flat tax and a national retail sales tax like the FAIRtax. This week, the FAIRtax Guys begin a two part series in…

AFFT president Steve Hayes’ testimony before the House Ways and Means subcommittee on taxation was largely political theater. Both sides used the occasion to advance their own talking points—Republicans touting the success of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and Democrats attacking the FAIRtax at every turn. Still, two Democratic Congressmen, John Larson…

2023 had promised to be a watershed year for the FAIRtax. In order to secure the Speakership of the House, Kevin McCarthy had to promise to bring the FAIRtax up for a vote—something that hasn’t happened since the FAIRtax was first introduced into Congress in 1999. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and Kevin McCarthy is no longer Speaker. It remain…

The Federal tax code is constantly changing. Every session, thousands of bills are introduced into Congress to amend the tax code is one way or another. Most of these proposals go unnoticed by the general public, but every week the FAIRtax Guys are looking for the best of the best, or in some cases, the worst of the worst examples of just how insan…

Economists will tell you that there a number of different laws, like the Law of Supply and Demand, that define how our economic system works. Here’s one they probably won’t tell you about, but it’s certainly true nonetheless. “Never underestimate a politician’s lust for your money”. As our nation’s debt soars, the politicians in Washington are cons…

Compared to the income tax, the FAIRtax is an exceedingly simple and easy to understand method of raising the money the Federal government needs to operate and provide services that people need and demand. Even so, since it’s such a radical departure from the taxation we’ve known all our lives, people have questions about what the FAIRtax is, how i…

The FAIRtax FAQ at fairtax.org is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to know more about what the FAIRtax is, how it works and why it’s fair. In this edition of FAIRtax Power Radio, the FAIRtax Guys look at why the FAIRtax is truly a fair tax. They examine the effect of the prebate on families of different income levels and also tackle the que…