(Alexandria, VA) -- Accuracy demands that Congressional candidate Larry Grant retract his advertisements trashing a popular plan known as the Fair Tax - that's the gist of a letter the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union (NTU) sent to Grant late yesterday. NTU has over 3,000 members in Idaho and 350,000 members nationwide.
"This ad portrays the 23 percent sales tax as an addition to the already-high tax burden that Americans suffer," NTU Government Affairs Manager Andrew Moylan wrote. "That is completely untrue, and the voters of Idaho's First Congressional District deserve better."
Recently Grant began running advertisements against his opponent Bill Sali, accusing Sali of supporting a 23 percent tax on everything Americans buy. The ad's claim is based on Sali's reply to NTU's Congressional Candidate Survey. Sali answered "yes" to the Survey question asking whether he would "work and vote to repeal the entire federal Tax Code and completely replace it."
Sali then checked the following reform option as one that he could support: "a national retail sales tax that provides reasonable protection for low-income people, with a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to abolish and prohibit all federal income taxes after a transition period." This proposal is embodied in NTU-backed legislation known as the Fair Tax Act (H.R 25 sponsored by Rep. John Linder (R-GA) and S. 25 sponsored by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)). The bills have 61 cosponsors between both chambers.
Moylan stressed these facts in NTU's letter to Grant, noting that "the Fair Tax would completely eliminate all income, payroll, and death taxes at the same time. The 23 percent rate was designed to be revenue neutral when compared with the current income tax structure ..." He also pointed out that the Fair Tax Act includes a monthly "prebate" that will shield lower- and middle-income households from harsh tax burdens.
In the final part of the letter, Moylan affirmed that neither NTU nor its political action arm, the NTU Campaign Fund, has made (or will make) an endorsement in the Grant-Sali race. "We write in the interest of fairness and accuracy," Moylan concluded. "We ask ... that you remove this ad and no longer use our name or logo in deceptive communications to the people of Idaho."
NTU is a non-profit organization founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes and smaller government at all levels. Note: NTU's letter to Grant, the Congressional Candidate Survey results, as well as commentaries and studies on the Fair Tax, are available online at www.ntu.org.