Reader: Boustany mailers wrongly credit Landry for ‘The Fair Tax’

Dear Editor,

It is a highly contested race in the newly formed 3rd congressional district of Louisiana. The rumbles of Republican against Republican fighting are heard all across the state. It has been heard way up here in north Louisiana.

It has come to my attention that Congressman Charles Boustany has been running ads and sending out mailers accusing Congressman Jeff Landry “supporting a new 23 percent tax on everything you buy.”

While he doesn’t call it by name, anyone who is slightly informed knows that the 23 percent tax that Mr. Boustany is talking about is what is called “The Fair Tax” A bill that is currently in congress, H.R. 25, that would replace the current federal income tax system with a national retail sales tax on all new goods and services.

The problem with the ads that the Boustany campaign is running is that they are misleading at best, blatantly false at worse. Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt of being uninformed, I must correct some of the misinformation.

First, Mr. Boustany leaves out the fact that the FairTax is a complete replacement of the current income tax code. It would remove all federal income based taxes, including all: personal, payroll, capital gains, gift, estate, self-employment, alternative minimum, and corporate income taxes. The FairTax would not be an “additional” tax, but an “instead of” tax.

Second, adding 23 percent to all purchases is simply wrong. The ads fail to explain that we currently pay these taxes in our goods and services by the way of embedded taxes. It is estimated that the embedded cost of all of the taxes that would be removed is roughly between 18 to 25 percent. Once these are removed and the FairTax 23 percent is added back in, the costs of most goods remain relatively the same, with some slight bumps up or down, depending on the goods. Also to be noted is the fact that even if prices do rise slightly, people will have more money in their pockets by having no more federal withholding from their paychecks. It has also been figured the average household would have a 27 percent increase in their expendable income, more than sufficient to cover any bumps in cost.

Third, the FairTax would only be imposed one time at the retail level on all NEW goods and services. If you choose to purchase a used car or other item, there would be no tax. So it is hardly a fit statement that “Landry wants to put a 23 percent tax on EVERYTHING you buy”

The last major problem that I see is that Mr. Landry has never even fully endorsed the FairTax (although we would love to have any candidates support).

Neither is this letter in any way an endorsement of Mr. Landry. Americans For Fair Taxation, the parent organization behind the FairTax, is a non-profit group that does not endorse any candidate. We will, however, work to correct any false or misleading information that may be put out about it.

There are many other merits to the FairTax, but I currently only wish to address this issue because it is the one brought out in the campaign. I would like to see Mr. Boustany immediately stop these false ads and issue corrections. No matter what other disagreements he may have with Mr. Landry, no matter which candidate you ultimately choose to support, we cannot sit by and allow these distortions of one of the most important pieces of legislation of our time, H.R. 25, the Fair Tax Act.

Douglas Opbroek,

La. State Director,
Americans For Fair Taxation