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Letter: FairTax plan would fully replace sales, income taxes
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Monday’s front page lead article on the General Assembly, “Tax reform, cannabis on to-do lists,” includes inaccurate information about the “Georgia FairTax Act,” introduced in the 2016 session of the General Assembly by state Rep. Emory Dunahoo, assigned the number HR1141, and still available here.

The bill Rep. Dunahoo will introduce this year will be essentially the same as the 2016 bill, which was written by David Burton, one of the co-authors of HR-25, the national FairTax bill. Burton worked closely with the leadership of Georgians for FairTaxation to produce an economically sound, revenue neutral bill. Members of GFFT, an all-volunteer organization, dug into our own pockets to compensate Burton for his expert work.

The statement that the bill “aims to begin lowering state income taxes while raising sales taxes to offset any lost revenue” is not correct. The Georgia FairTax bill does not lower income tax and raise sales tax rates; it replaces both with an entirely new tax structure.

The FairTax is a 21st century, flat-rate consumption tax on new goods and services collected at the final retail point of sale. It eliminates all income-based taxes, both personal and corporate. Used items, whether a used car bought from the current owner or at a dealership, an existing house, or a playpen purchased at a yard sale, are not taxed.

Instead of paying income tax and sales tax, Georgians will pay one tax, and Georgia will become even more business-friendly by eliminating the state income tax. Like the national bill, the Georgia FairTax bill includes a “prebate,” a monthly payment in advance to offset taxes on necessities. The dollar amount of the “prebate,” available to every registered household, is based on the number of household residents, not income.

GFFT welcomes the co-sponsorship of Rep. Tim Barr, also a co-sponsor of the 2016 bill, and we hope Rep. Lee Hawkins will again co-sponsor the bill, which had more than 25 co-sponsors when Dunahoo introduced the Georgia FairTax Act last March 11.

A state FairTax will be good for Georgia and for its citizens. As FairTaxers say, “Understand it, and you will demand it.”

To understand the Georgia bill and learn more, visit our website.

Marian Warlick, Mike Warlick
Dahlonega

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