FAIRtax Power Radio

On October 19, the FAIRtax Guys did their annual live program from the studios of WTOB Radio in Winston-Salem, NC.See how it all went down on this week’s edition of FAIRtax Power Radio.

In spite of all the positives associated with replacing the income tax with the FAIRtax, skepticism about the FAIRtax, often fueled by misinformation, remains.This week, the FAIRtax Guys address concerns about the FAIRtax from both citizens and members of Congress.

Once again, the FAIRtax Guys turn to artificial intelligence, but this time with a twist.  Instead of just having AI find and organize information, we asked it to evaluate some options and make a choice.Specifically, we asked it to evaluate the income tax and the FAIRtax and then pick which system it would choose to live under if it were an American taxpayer.  Three different AI applications all arrived at the same conclusion.  American taxpayers are better off under the FAIRtax than the income tax.

The FAIRtax truly has something for everyone to like.  Last week, the FAIRtax Guys demonstrated how the FAIRtax appeals to people with differing political ideologies.This week, the focus shifts to different demographic groups.  Whether you’re old, young, retired or running a business, the FAIRtax will make your life less complicated and more profitable.

You’d never know it listening to the partisan rhetoric, but the FAIRtax has always been an apolitical proposal.  It never has been and never will be an attempt to advance or hinder anyone’s political agenda.  It’s one and only objective is to raise the money the government needs to operate in the fairest, most transparent, most efficient and least economically harmful manner possible.This week, the FAIRtax Guys strip away all the partisan slant and find elements in the FAIRtax that people all across the political spectrum should like and support.

Every week, the FAIRtax Guys look at congress.gov to see what kind of crazy things the Congress Critters are trying to put into the tax code.This week, the Guys look at a different kind of tax code craziness.  With the help of an artificial intelligence application, they have dug up the top ten craziest tax deductions that people have tried to take and the IRS disallowed.  Then, they follow up with ten more crazy deductions that were actually allowed.

There is a myth circulating about the FAIRtax that just refuses to die.  You see it all over social media and even some artificial intelligence applications will quote this as a drawback of the FAIRtax.  It’s the argument that claims that the FAIRtax is unfair to low income families because poor families spend a much higher percentage of their income than rich families do.This week, the FAIRtax Guys assume the role of mythbusters.  They explode this myth in exquisite detail by comparing how two families, one rich and one poor, fare under the FAIRtax.

There seems to be a trend brewing, largely in the Southeast.  State after state has announced its intention to eliminate their state income tax.   South Carolina recently joined this group when Nancy Mace, a candidate for governor, announced her plan to reduce South Carolina’s income tax rate to zero.This week, the FAIRtax Guys take a look at just how many states have figured out that having no state income tax gives them an advantage over neighboring states, and why some states have a better plan than others.

President Trump continues to double down on tariffs as a way to raise revenue for the federal government.  While the President has enjoyed some success on this front, the fact remains that there’s a better way to do it.This week, the FAIRtax Guys engage in a head to head match between tariffs and the FAIRtax to see which system would truly be the best way to fund the federal government.

Last week, the FAIRtax Guys explained why putting exemptions into the FAIRtax for necessities like food and medicine is a bad idea.This week, the Guys expand on the functions of the FAIRtax prebate.  It’s a concept not found in any other consumption tax, so it’s natural that some people could have questions about what it is (and isn’t), and how it works.

Some people who are concerned about the regressivity of a consumption tax like the FAIRtax have suggested that the FAIRtax should contain exemptions for necessities like food and medicine.This week, the FAIRtax Guys look at the SNAP program as an example of what happens when the government tries to define what “food” is, and they explain why the FAIRtax prebate is a much easier, and fairer way to ensure that no one pays the FAIRtax on their basic necessities.

The Tax Foundation is an international research think tank based in Washington, D.C. that collects data and publishes research studies on U.S. tax policies at both the federal and state levels.This week, the FAIRtax Guys look at a Tax Foundation article from October of 2023 comparing the income tax to consumption taxes like the FAIRtax.

A recent poll showed that most people across the entire political spectrum support the idea of replacing the income tax with a different system of taxation.  That’s good news for the FAIRtax, but how do build public demand for that change?This week, the FAIRtax Guys welcome Florida FAIRtax Educational Association president Paul Livingston to discuss our press release program and expound on how our release on this particular subject is performing.

What happens when you ask an artificial intelligence application to evaluate the FAIRtax?  Of course, it depends on which application you use and how you word the question.  It also depends on what sources the application uses to formulate its answer.Recently, the FAIRtax Guys asked Microsoft’s Copilot AI application to list the pros and cons of the FAIRtax.  It did a pretty good job with the pros, but missed the mark a bit with the cons.  This week, the FAIRtax Guys offer Copilot some gentle correction on some points about the FAIRtax that it didn’t get just right.

President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill has been signed into law a lot faster than a lot of people expected.This week, the FAIRtax Guys welcome AFFT president Steve Hayes to the program to go over what’s in the new law relative to taxation, and look at how the FAIRtax moves forward from here.

FAIRtax advocates continue to be active across several social media platforms.  As you might imagine, the idea of replacing the income tax with the FAIRtax continues to generate a wide range of responses.  Many people think it’s a great idea while others are not so sure.This week, the FAIRtax Guys look back at some FAIRtax postings on social media and the responses they generated.

The recent poll about people’s opinion on replacing the income tax with a national retail sales tax has a rather surprising result.  Only 49% were at least somewhat confident that a national sales tax would help reduce illegal tax evasion while 36% didn’t think it would help much if at all.  That’s rather amazing given the fundamental differences in how a sales tax is collected vs. the income tax.To that end, the FAIRtax Guys revisit the study done by CPA Jade Walle in September of 2020 that concluded that switching from the income tax to the FAIRtax would reduce illegal evasion by 95%.

President Trump made a really interesting pick when he selected former Missouri Representative Billy Long to be the new IRS commissioner.  When he was in Congress, Representative Long cosponsored the FAIRtax, making him the only IRS commissioner who’s on record as wanting to abolish the IRS.Having received Senate confirmation, Mr. Long is now talking about looking to the private sector to find ways to modernize the IRS.  While that may sound like a good idea to some, the FAIRtax Guys point out some real dangers a modernized IRS presents to the American taxpayer.

Over the past several election cycles, the polling industry as a whole has struggled to accurately measure real public opinion.  However, one polling organization seems to have found a way to produce surprisingly accurate results.This week, Jade Walle joins the FAIRtax Guys to discuss a poll that organization did regarding public opinion on taxation.  While there are areas where FAIRtax supporters definitely need to pick up their game, the overall result is definitely encouraging.

Taxing income and taxing consumption are two radically different ways to raise funds for the government.  But which is better?There is nearly unanimous agreement among economists from all across the political spectrum that from a strictly economic point of view, a consumption tax is vastly superior to an income tax.  This week, the FAIRtax Guys look at a couple of different articles that address this issue.