Fair Tax Nation

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

Wanted to share our exciting news in South Georgia - Am reposting an email from Phil Hinson, our SE Director :

Former GA S/D Gene Key and I made the long drive (3 1/2 hours one way) down to Thomasville, GA for a presentation yesterday. Thomasville is just a few miles from the Florida state line, probablt within 35 miles of Tallahassee. The meeting had been set up by our new turbo DD in that congressional district, Charlie Prochaska of Albany. Charlie had made the acquaintance of the publisher/editor of the local (Thomasville) newspaper, Mark Lastinger, who had recently started a series of meetings on public policy issues of interest to the community. He was willing to use one of these slots to discuss/present the FairTax. Initially, Mr. Lastinger said that he was undecided about the FairTax.

After Gene and I did a brief introduction of the proposal itself,GA Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine spoke for a few minutes. Mr. Oxendine is running for Governor of GA in 2010 and he is also spearheading the Constitutional Convention initiative on behalf of the FairTax. He was very persuasive relative to his view that insurance companies and other financial services organizations which had left the USA because of our tax system would return quickly and bring good paying jobs with them when (not if) we pass the FairTax. He mentioned Bermuda and the rest of the Carribean as a haven for these types of businesses.

Rep. Sanford Bishop (D) spoke next and commented that he felt like "Daniel in the Lion's Den". We had met with Mr. Bishop in the past at his office in Columbus, GA and he had attended a presentation we had given at a college in Albany. He reiterated his concerns about the loss of the charitable contributions and home mortgage deductions, which he had alluded to at those earlier meetings. He did say that he did not oppose the FairTax, just that he had these "concerns" and if/when they were addressed, he implied that he could support the proposal. When the moderator opened the floor up to questions, the first questioner asked him (very politely) when he anticipated making a decision. That question got a round of applause. Mr. Bishop waffled, of course. Another questioner introduced himself as a pastor of a small church in one of the neighboring communities and a home builder. He stated that if anyone were giving to his church in order to secure a tax deduction, he would counsel them that they had improper motives and that they were inconsistent with Biblical principles. He also said that those with family responsibilities would not ignore those responsibilities if the home mortgage deduction was eliminated. He could not have rebutted the congressman's concerns more effectively if he had been on the staff in Houston or Congressman Linder's office.

One questioner did not wait until the mike could be brought to him, but started screaming after Rep. Bishop acknowledged that he had voted for the highly controversial stimulus bill. He said that he did so with misgivings, but he finally concluded that something had to be done. The questioner criticized the bill, the fact that members had not had a chance to read it, and the congressman's lack of movement on the FairTax. He said that he had not intended to raise his voice, but he got fed up listening to what he was hearing. He got up and walked out without waiting for a response and several other audience members went out right after he did. This was unfortunate, as we had not had a chance to explain the economic benefits of the FairTax at that point, but we found out afterwards that many of those people signed up at the FairTax table outside and purchased FT promo items for a donation. Mr. Lastinger stated after the questioner had left that he had been out of line and stated that this was the first time this had happened at one of the meetings.

Gene and I then returned to the stage to highlight some of the economic benefits and respond to Congressman Bishop's concerns. I pointed out that when we had met a couple of years ago and I had asked Mr. Bishop if he would stop his own charitable giving if the tax deduction were eliminated, he admitted that he would not, but that it was "other people" that he was worried about. I pointed out that since he had voiced that concern, I had yet to meet (2 +years later) these "other people" who would stop or curb their giving if the tax deduction were eliminated, especially if they were now receiving 100% of their paychecks. I also pointed out that the purpose of both deductions (in fact, all deductions) was to allow those "tax preference items" to be paid for with pre-tax dollars, but with the FairTax, everything would be paid for with pre-tax dollars.

The auditorium was in the city municipal building and seated around 1,300 I was told. The audience was estimated at about 700. There were a couple of newspaper reporters there and they asked Gene and I questions afterward. The volunteers manning the tables said that the feedback they got from people leaving was overwhelmingly positive. We are going to follow up and see if we can do something similar in the surrounding communities in S GA that have newspapers which are in the same group as the one in Thomasville. Mr. Lastinger was heard to say after the presentation that he is now a supporter of the FairTax. Mr. Lastinger had published several articles in his paper on the FT in the days prior to the event and other publicity had been secured. This was the primary reason that the audience draw was so high. Mr. Lastinger said it was the most heavily attended of the meetings they had held.

This was a home-run from my perspective. We know for a fact that we can get support from between 75 and 90% of those who sit down and listen to a presentation on the FT and have a chance to have their questions answered and their concerns responded to. Our challlenge has always been to get enough "fannies in the seats" to educate enough people at a time so that it is a productive use of our time. An audience this size makes it worth our time to drive a distance to establish a beachhead in a part of the state which has never had much exposure to the FairTax. We are hoping that this type of event can be duplicated in other communities around the nation. I cannot think of anything that will spur our momentum more than this. The key to the kingdom IMHO is to leverage these other organizations which can put the fannies in the seats for us. We can provide an interesting and informative presentation on a topic of vital interest to all Americans. That should be very appealing to any number of organizations looking to provide a service to their members.

Philip Hinson
Volunteer Regional Director - SE

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