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Senate Candidate Spar Over Fair Tax

This week, U.S. Senate candidates Marco Rubio, Republican, and Alexander Snitker, Libertarian, were both speaking out on the Fair Tax, but their positions on the issue are as far apart as their political records.

Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, the GOP frontrunner, said the Fair Tax was "not realistic" in a campaign stop in Jacksonville Beach this week. He instead prefers modest tax cuts within the existing income tax structure.
By contrast, Snitker, a former U.S. Marine and political newcomer, is an ardent proponent of the Fair Tax. He not only supports the consumption based tax, but has also advocated repealing the 16th Amendment, thus eliminating income tax and the IRS.

Snitker was highly critical of Rubio's dismissal of the Fair Tax as a viable alternative to the complex U.S. tax code. "The one thing that we can do to take power away from Congress and put it back in the hands of the people...is the one thing [Rubio] won't do," Snitker said after a recent campaign stop. "Playing with the tax code is not going to fix the economy," he said.

Snitker suggests that the Fair Tax, in conjunction with a balanced federal budget amendment, will eliminate the massive budget deficits and ballooning debt. Whereas Rubio leans toward a more moderate approach to tax cuts, and supports some deficit spending for stimulus programs.

The Fair Tax is a plan to eliminate all income and payroll taxes, and replace that revenue with what is basically a national sales tax. Proponents of the fair tax say that it would immediately stimulate the economy by giving both businesses and individuals a dramatic increase in disposable income.

Many economists, including Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith, believe that the Fair Tax would stimulate the economy and create jobs. By eliminating the tax burden on companies associated with hiring new workers, both large corporations and small business would have a major incentive to hire new employees. Also, the Fair Tax would eliminate payroll tax deductions, resulting an instant pay raise for every worker in America.

A growing number of privacy advocates also support the Fair Tax. They point out that a consumption tax eliminates the need for the federal government to collect and assess personal data about citizens. According to former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel, with the Fair Tax "the government no longer needs to know where you work, what you earn, or what you do with your earnings."

With what many consider to be a radical agenda by the Obama Administration and Democrat-controlled Congress, and the ground swell of opposition from the tea party movement, this election season may be the most groundbreaking in recent history. Ideas - and candidates - once thought to be outside the mainstream may very well end up shaping the future of our nation.

Alex Snitker