U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said, “The federal tax code, with its 44,000 pages, 5.5 million words and 721 different forms, is a patchwork maze of complexity and a testament to confusion over common sense.”
Is there a better way for the government to collect enough taxes to run the country? I personally favor a 100 percent consumption tax, otherwise known as the fair tax. If you buy something, you pay a tax on it. The only exceptions would be food and medicine. The fair tax would eliminate the IRS and allow workers to keep their entire paychecks and seniors to keep their entire pensions. The corporate income tax would disappear, opening the U.S. markets to foreign investments and making our manufacturers more competitive in the world market, which would create jobs.
The fair tax would abolish all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift taxes, estate taxes, capital gains taxes, the alternative minimum tax, Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes and self-employment taxes.
Since the Democrats think that the rich need to pay more taxes and are using loopholes to avoid taxes, the fair tax would eliminate all loopholes. Wealthy people would pay taxes every time they buy something and since rich people spend more money than others, their tax bills will be higher.
So why isn’t the fair tax in use? Mainly because of false beliefs by some groups. Some people believe that travelers to foreign countries, including Mexico and Canada, would avoid the consumption tax. This is easily solved by taxing all goods brought back to the United States by travelers through a customs tax. Others believe that business owners could make personal purchases and would avoid the tax because businesses would be exempt. Businesses are exempt from state sales taxes even now, but they have to prove that what is purchased is for company only use.
The opposition also believes that people who are better savers would benefit. The truth is, no matter how much we would like to save, we still have to buy clothing, furniture, etc. Savings just don’t stagnate. Banks loan your savings to help businesses grow. We use savings for mortgages, car loans and home improvements, which all are good for the economy.
Presidential candidate Herman Cain believes the country should move slowly into the fair tax. He calls his proposal “nine, nine, nine.” This proposal has a 9 percent flat income tax, a 9 percent flat business tax and a 9 percent national sales tax. The flat income tax would eliminate all exemptions, placing everyone on equal footing — including the rich. The flat business tax would make U.S. companies more competitive by taking corporate taxes from 35 percent to 9 percent.
The national sales tax would be the beginning of the fair tax. The public will see the advantages of going to a fair tax and of eventually eliminating the personal and corporate taxes all together.
One of the advantages of a fair tax is that we the people can protest by not spending our money in dissent if the government attempts an action that is objectionable to the nation. With the fair tax, we would have the choice of how to use our money without a career politician telling us how we must spend our money.

Calderone is a conservative who lives in Midway. He is a professional salesperson and for 30 years has written articles for trade publications in various fields.