Replace All Federal Taxes on Income with the Fair Tax Act , HR 25 and S 122

Proposed 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: The Fair Tax Amendment

How does this sound for a draft of the 28th Amendment to the Constitution?

Judge Deborah’s Proposed Fair Tax Amendment

Proposed Twenty-Eighth Amendment

Section 1. The sixteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

Section 2. The direct taxation of any corporation, small business, farming operation or private enterprise is hereby prohibited.

Section 3. The direct taxation of any private citizen’s wages or earnings by Congress is hereby prohibited. Income taxes, payroll taxes, alternative minimum taxes, estate taxes, death taxes, gift taxes, corporate taxes and capital gains taxes are hereby abolished.

Section 4. A federal retail sales tax shall be instituted on the consumption of goods and services in the United States once, without exception, but only once.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. This Amendment will take effect within ninety (90) days after passage of Fair Tax legislation by Congress.

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H.R. 25: “A resolution to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.”

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-25

Also see S. 296 – Senate Version of the Fair Tax Act of 2009.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-296

Now all you attorneys, advocates and activists have something to work on!

Feel free to take this humble legal secretary's work and refine it, but don't change it too much!

We like HR 25 just like it is!

P.S. -- I think the actual Fair Tax legislation outlines whether we have 6 months or 2 years to fully comply with this law. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

Tags: Amendment, Fair, Tax, Twenty-Eighth, business, corporation, small

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Permalink Reply by Pat Conroy on March 19, 2009 at 2:54pm

Deborah, this is way beyond my pay grade, to quote a certain president. But we will need an amendment. Maybe another tack in the FairTax battle is to approach it from the constitutional amendment side, just as HR-25 approaches from the legislative side.

Something along the lines of "This amendment will take effect immediately upon the signing of the the FairTax law." This way, we wouldn't have to wait years after the FairTax passes for the amendment repealing the 16th amendment to make it through 3/4 of the state legislatures.

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Permalink Reply by Tony on March 19, 2009 at 9:53pm

The susnet clause makes sure that if the 16th amendment is not repealed within 7 years of the FairTax passing everything will go back the way it was.

No matter what spin the government or media puts on it....the people (no matter how uneducated in politics they are) will not let this happen.

I'm not fussed about how its put through...as long as the bill remains intact and the politicians hate it :)

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Permalink Reply by Deborah in Ohio on March 20, 2009 at 8:03am

Thanks for the suggestion, Pat. I'll revise the language in my book, Judge Deborah Speaks Out -- Morality Really Does Matter In America. I'm proofreading it today, so I'll make those changes before I send it to the publisher within the next 11 days. Look for it on Amazon.com by May 1 or shortly thereafter.

I like the sound of that language. "This amendment will take effect immediately upon the signing of the the FairTax law."

It really doesn't matter which comes first, the chicken or the egg. Wouldn't it be great if both the FairTax Bill (HR25) and a Constitutional Amendment were signed or passed at the same time?

Wasn't that Cincinnati Tea Party fabulous last Sunday?

I just got 2 copies of the AFFT Fair Tax DVD a couple days ago from Curtis Management Resources in Fairborn, Ohio.

This DVD is awesome! Everyone needs to get a copy. We have permission to copy it.

I can hardly wait for the April 15 Tea Party right here in Dayton, Ohio!

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Permalink Reply by Deborah in Ohio on April 19, 2009 at 8:46pm

That's a great idea, Pat. A Constitutional Amendment will need 90 days to go into effect though. We can't ask businesses to change their accounting functions and cash registers without a reasonable amount of lead time.

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Permalink Reply by Earl Mathews on March 20, 2009 at 6:05am

Does anyone know if the AFFT has ever approached it as an ammendment issue?
Maybe, if this Fair Tax became an ammendment issue from the people a lot more attention could be gathered?
I wonder what would happen if we all sent post cards with the above ammendment on it to our congress rep's and say the grassroots are growing deeper or some phrase as such.
I think they would get excited.

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Permalink Reply by Nick Garzilli on March 20, 2009 at 7:12am

I like this idea a lot. The 29th Amendment has a nice ring to it.

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Permalink Reply by Pat Conroy on March 20, 2009 at 10:02am

Of course, we don't want to stray from the main task of getting HR-25 passed, but an equal push on the constitutional amendment front might be helpful to the overall strategy of instituting the FairTax.

A major factor in defeating Hitler in WWII was attacking Germany on two fronts -- not that I'm equating the income tax with Naziism ;). I'm not sure what the wording should be (maybe something along the lines of what Deborah has posted), but if there were a push for a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th amendment that included language specifying it would become effective upon passage of a form of the FairTax, that might act as a "second front" in our war on the income tax.

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Permalink Reply by Fla Vol on March 21, 2009 at 5:45pm

I like your proposal.
However, I would encourage you to consider taking the state route as I have commented on in my blog
http://fairtaxnation.ning.com/profiles/blogs/an-open-letter-to-mr-b...

If you wait until there is enough clout in Washington to pass an amendment it could be years before we see action. However, we have many states where the populations are more independent or conservative and if these states pass a request for amendment then the congress has to recognize it and approve it. We work state by state and get 2/3 to agree. We have to do it anyway to get the amendment ratified so just cut out congress and go to the states first. I also suggest getting a coalition of strong groups who want amendments that we can agree with and we work the process as a huge group with strong power to build backing of state legislatures.

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Permalink Reply by Earl Mathews on March 21, 2009 at 6:16pm

I think this ammendment idea is moving in the right direction, what step is next?
Who is able and willing to carry the torch? I do not know enough about this type political tactic.

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Permalink Reply by Pat Conroy on March 22, 2009 at 2:06pm

The focus must stay on getting the FairTax (HR-25) enacted. So, the question is: Would proposing a constitutional amendment detract from this focus?

It would probably be fairly simple to get a congressman or senator to propose a constitutional amendment along the lines "Repeal the 16th amendment" and making the amendment effective upon passage of FairTax legislation. It takes a 2/3 vote in both the house and senate to submit a constitutional amendment to the states for ratification. It then has to be ratified by the legislatures of 38 states. It is much more likely for the FairTax to be passed, which would only require simple majorities in the house and senate and a signature by the president.

On the other hand, even if passed and signed into law, HR-25 will not become effective until a constitutional amendment is passed to repeal the 16th amendment. That means that BOTH enacting the law and passing an amendment have to happen.

Back to the question of whether proposing a constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th amendment, prior to enactment of HR-25 would detract from getting HR-25 passed: I can't seen how it can hurt. If nothing else, it might be good PR.

So, unless there is significant pushback to this idea from the members here, I think the first action step is to contact the cosponsors of the house and senate FairTax bills and urge one of them to submit a proposed constitutional amendment to repeal the 16th amendment. Whether it should just be that language or include language to tie it to the FairTax may not really matter. I think we may be able to pull some support from people who are not aware of the FairTax just on the basis of repealing the income tax.

I'll start with emailing Senator Cornyn. He is a cosponsor of the senate FairTax bill.

BTW, I just noticed that Texas has more cosponsors that any other state -- 10 in the house and 1 in the senate. We're #1!

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Permalink Reply by Pat Conroy on March 23, 2009 at 6:57pm

Here is the text of the letter I sent today to Senator Cornyn:

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Dear Senator Cornyn:

I note that you are a cosponsor of S-296, the FairTax bill. First, I want you to know that I appreciate your support. As the owner of a small business, I cannot overemphasize the burden placed on my company by the complexities of the current tax system. It would take hours for me to explain all the requirements I am forced to follow in order to comply with the mountain of regulations covering income taxes, payroll taxes, 401K, AMT, Section 179, capital gains, carry forward, carry back, IRA, ad infinitum.

As you know, one of the titles in the FairTax bill requires the sunset of the FairTax if the 16th amendment to the Constitution is not repealed with seven years of passage of the FairTax. In anticipation that the FairTax will be passed and to get a headstart on repeal of the 16th amendment (hope springs eternal), please consider sponsoring the following resolution:

"The sixteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed."

If such a resolution were passed and submitted to the states for ratification, that would exert significant presure for tax reform on Congress. It is not too farfetched to think that a number of state legislatures might actually ratify the amendment. Doing so would transfer power from Congress to the state legislaturess unless Congress passed a different type of tax such as the FairTax. I imagine the Texas Legislature would chomp at the bit to do so.

From your perspective, I don't think it would be a bad thing to be recognized as the Senator responsible for repealing the income tax.

Sincerely,

Pat Conroy
Austin, Texas

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Permalink Reply by Fla Vol on March 24, 2009 at 11:01pm

I would like to clarify something about amending the constitution. In relation to the Fair Tax the proposed law says it will take effect when the constitution is amended to remove the income tax. This is the plan so we do not end up with 2 forms of taxation. Ratification of the amendment must be approved by 2/3 of the states. We therefore have two projects: 1. Get the Congress to pass the law,2 Get the states to ratify the amendment.
The proposal to go directly to an amendment is to go to the states and get 2/3 of them to request a constitutional amendment convention. Once accomplished congress must approve and finance the project and the travel of the official representatives of each state to the convention where they pass the amendment as authorized by each state.
You cut out one of the processes of trying to change the atitude of congress and just go to the states which has to be done anyway. You have less work to do, you get past the hesitation of congress and you can bypass the populous states that have high population but would lean toward the atitude in congress. You will receive better reception at the middle states and the project is easier.
Boortz discussed this on his show and indicated he and Congressman Linder have discussed it.
I am trying to build interest in this route. I am also trying to build interest in forming a coalition with 2 or 3 other organizations that might want to pass amendments and would work with us on the Fair Tax. The reason for this coalition is to offset some fears of setting up a convention where weird items could be proposed. I believe with a strong coalition there would be enough support to influence the state legislatures to pass a request for limited items and could keep extraneous proposals in check.
Thank you for the opportunity to explain this approach. You can read about amending the constitution at this site http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/constitution/