Sen. Graham tries to save the kitchen sink
By Warner M. Montgomery
Warner@TheColumbiaStar.com

I appreciate Sen. Lindsay Graham’s almost daily email News Report. He voices his opinion on almost every issue and explains his votes.

This week he explained why he was “one of eight Republicans to vote against the final bill to come before the Republican–controlled 109th Congress in the early morning hours Saturday…The vote was 79–9.

“I’ve grown tired of having to choose between a bad process and a few good provisions,” said Graham. “It was these kinds of actions – throwing everything in at the last minute but the kitchen sink – that got Republicans in trouble with the voters.”

The Report also said, “There are several pro–growth tax relief extensions in the bill including college tuition deductions, the new market tax credit, the work opportunity tax credit, and the welfare–to–work credit that are sound policy,” said Graham. “In addition there was a provision that stopped a reduction in payments for physicians who treat Medicare patients.”

His last comments are indicative of the current situation with the Tax Code and the IRS. Every year, Congress fiddles with the Code to benefit lobbying groups, pet projects, or even individual citizens. As the size of the Tax Code grows, fairness to the individual taxpayer diminishes.

The only way out of this is the FairTax Plan, a nonpartisan national grassroots campaign to replace the federal income tax system with a progressive national retail sales tax. It provides a “prebate” to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar–for–dollar federal revenue replacement, and, through companion legislation, repeal of the 16th Amendment. (http://www.fairtax.org/)