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FairTax: The Truth: Answering the Critics | 
| Authors: Neal Boortz, John Linder
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  113 reviews
Sales Rank: 1227
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0061540463
Dewey Decimal Number: 336.271
EAN: 9780061540462
ASIN: 0061540463
Publication Date: February 1, 2008
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Product Description
In 2005, firebrand radio talk show host Neal Boortz and Georgia congressman John Linder created The FairTax Book, presenting the American public with a bold new plan designed to eliminate federal taxes and the IRS, jump-start the U.S. economy, bring back lost industries and jobs, and recapture billions of untaxed dollars hoarded by criminal and offshore businesses. Their book became an immediate #1 New York Times bestseller, propelling a powerful grassroots tax reform movement that's spreading like wildfire across our nation. Now, three years later, the authors are back to answer the outspoken and misinformed critics of their innovative proposal. Offering eye-opening new insights not covered in the original book, FairTax: The Truth debunks the negative myths and gross misrepresentations of this groundbreaking idea. The FairTax plan is simple, brilliant, and it will work—enabling you to keep all the money in your paycheck; eliminating the fraud, hassle, and waste of our current system; and revolutionizing the way America pays for itself.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 108 more reviews...
 An interesting and rather convincing book July 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
When the Americans For Fair Taxation (AFFT) people first set out to reform taxation, they began doing research to find out what the American public would consider the most fair tax. To their surprise, what they found that the American people wanted a consumption tax, that would fall heaviest on the richest taxpayers and contain safeguards for the poorest taxpayers. And so, after a good deal of hard work, the AFFT came up with the Fair Tax Act, which was crafted to be fair, work for the American economy (not against it!), and meet the needs of Americans.
Not surprisingly, the Fair Tax Act immediately came under fire from those who opposed it because they did not want to see a change in the way taxes are collected and spent, or they were afraid that the Fair Tax was actually an unfair tax in sheep's clothing. To answer these critics, authors Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder wrote this book, which explains the Fair Tax, and defends it.
Overall, I found this to be an interesting and rather convincing book. When I first saw the book, I assumed it was speaking about a so-called flat tax. That's right, I had never heard of the Fair Tax Act. Well, this book certainly convinced me. I now consider myself a Fair Tax supporter. Get this well-written book, and see for yourself just what the Fair Tax is all about...and, I think that you will be convinced as well.
 Welcomed argument fails to close the deal July 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book's authors ask us to hold their book to a higher standard and it's this standard I use to score their book. Besides submitting that their version of a national consumption tax, aka "the FairTax", is worthy of our consideration and therefore worth purchasing and reading this book to enlighten the public on the structure of their tax scheme proposal and its predicted effects; the authors have one other stated objective with two aspects. The first is to arm its proponents with arguments to refute FairTax opponents and the second is to convince those ignorant of or in need of more data to convert to being a FairTax supporter given what they hope are an overwhelming set of arguments posed within their book.
The quality of the authors approach to framing their argument and the quality of their assertions and arguments are outstanding in all regards with two exceptions, one minor, and one major. The authors shy away from partisan politics and spend little time noting that most of its support comes from grassroots Republicans that stretch across the party's ideological spectrum, from libertarian/moderates like myself to social conservatives best exemplified by Sean Hannity and Mike Huckabee, while Democrats and liberals are either mundanely ignorant of this proposal or oppose it given their somewhat false perception it's a regressive tax. Instead Boortz and Linder focus on making an argument that America needs tax reform and the FairTax would be the ultimate reform if one's objective were to optimize economic growth in an environment that increases optimal job opportunities. I applaud the authors for taking this approach; we need more political debates where the context is one of ideas without false assertions, rhetoric, or outlandish predictions. In fact, I think the authors are overly modest in the explicit benefits they argue would occur with the FairTax, I believe its benefits would extend well past their stated hopes.
If you agree that tax reform is a strategic requirement for America's continued success than I think this book easily meets the standard test on whether this book is worth its purchase price and your time. It's well written, entertaining, comprehensive, easy to understand, modest in its predictions, and honestly frames all their opponents' best arguments but one, with solid rebuttals to all the arguments listed.
The two criticisms I have of this book's approach are the authors sometimes dropping the names of FairTax proponents that do not share the authors' high standards for political argumentation, thereby risking losing readers or adherents who will be justifiably suspicious of the authors' intellectual integrity and honesty. I cringed when they referenced Sean Hannity as a FairTax proponent at least twice. The authors concede they need more grassroots support; I believe they need more support from our country's elite to improve their visibility and leverage the influence these people command in the public forum of ideas. Sean Hannity's inability to make reasoned arguments based on valid assertions is well known by thinking Americans. It's tough to find more than a handful of media pundits more dishonest and ideologically delusional than Sean Hannity. The authors need to trust their argument and resist the temptation of name-dropping media pundits who influence large numbers of adherents, especially partisan hacks given their adherents are sheep and will gladly follow along while the FairTax movement currently suffers from getting independent thinkers who require evidence and rational arguments. I would submit that the book is better than the names it drops and invite people who object to people like Hannity to forgive them and consider their arguments anyway.
My second objection is a major one and reason for dropping the book's rating two stars. While the authors correctly inform their readers that many economists have portrayed a national consumption tax in a favorable light on some tax reform factors, the authors and the movement have failed to gain peer-acceptance amongst economists to support their movement. The authors' first FairTax book and this book rely heavily on a 1997 report published by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation where some economists claimed that a national consumption tax would be the optimal approach for economic growth - though many that argued for this prediction had other objections to this sort of tax for other reasons not noted in this book. In fact, they mention only a handful of economists in support of a FairTax and none co-authored the book, which I believe would have helped immensely in the marketplace of ideas, especially within academia.
If the FairTax really is the optimal tax reform approach, why haven't we seen any momentum by the functional experts we rely on for the promotion of economic policies? The authors do indirectly address part of my rhetorical question with their appendix, which is a brief, non-comprehensive, non-technical rebuttal of President Bush 43's position on tax reform (not) via his 2005 Advisory Panel on Tax Reform report. Linder and Boortz's rebuttal to Bush and the panel's report, as far as it goes, easily discredits the President's position as one steeped in logical fallacies and gross mischaracterizations of the FairTax movement. In fact, if you've read their first book on the FairTax and understand their position, you too can easily rip the President's idiotic position on tax reform, no need for even in a bachelor's in Economics, it's really that idiotic.
However, given that we know the President is an ideological hack who put constraints on his panel to insure the panel's results did not challenge the status quo on tax policy and the panel acted like dutiful sheep, the question left begging still hangs out there. What are the objections that informed economists unconstrained by political pressure have and what are the authors' responses to those arguments? From this perspective, the book is lacking. There are some references to economists who oppose the FairTax who've made objections out of ignorance, but no illumination of informed objections are considered.
Lastly in terms of objections, I believe the authors should be more open to consideration of using a tax rate on top of the sales price rather than incoporation into the price. While I understand this increases the challenge of selling the tax since a 30% tax sounds a lot worse than a 23% tax, incorporating the tax into the price is contrary to one of the biggest benefits of the tax - transparency. While the authors do a great job of arguing that nearly all Americans, including this reader, are clueless regarding how much we pay in taxes while the FairTax provides much needed transparency, by incorporating the tax into a price they harm the very cause they are promoting.
I also believe the authors avoid a comprehensive rebuttal to the charge that the FairTax is regressive. I believe this is the only argument they avoid besides properly rebutting economist peer-acceptance. While they are correct that the FairTax's prebate plan will provide even more tax relief to poor people living at or below the welfare level than the current income tax scheme, they don't address how people who spend above the subsistence level will be affected in terms of their share of taxes relative to those in the top echelons of spenders. I happen to believe that even if it is somewhat regressive for an earner of, say, $50K/year relative to an earner making $500K/yr. in terms of what percentage of their income goes to taxes, I think the career opportunities that would be opened up for lower wage earners would immensely benefit them relative to the current tax scheme that acts as a disincentive for increased domestic capital investment in a global market. Would a middle class earner really care if he pays a higher rate relative to another earner if his net income after taxes goes up, say, 50% due to increased economic opportunities?
So while I remain a supporter of the FairTax, I can't go whole hog in support given the high quality of their falsification efforts do not extend to the very functional experts our country depends on to provide guidance to policy makers. Still, this book is a great primer on the issue and should help defend the idea from people who prefer rhetoric over reason and certainly achieves their objective that this proposal is worthy of serious consideration.
Great information about Tax Reform July 14, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Everyone should read this and decide for themselves if this is the answer to tax reform.
Even better than the first one July 9, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Good job guys. I've been supporting the FairTax for several years and this was a great follow-up book to answer the many questions asked.
Life Under the FairTax June 8, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Honest and sensible responses to myths and criticisms surrounding the FairTax. Chapter 12 brings it all home by describing what life would have been like had we been living with the FairTax all along, and how our lives would change if a new system of taxation (our present system of income & payroll taxes) were implemented. The difference is eye opening and has made me a proponent of the FairTax.
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