Moran, Jenkins to campaign in Wichita for replacing income tax with sales tax

Sen. Jerry Moran and Rep. Lynn Jenkins will be in Wichita on Tuesday for a public forum stumping for the “FairTax,” a proposal to do away with income and other wealth-based taxes and replace them with a national sales tax.

Moran has supported the FairTax for years and has been tapped, along with Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, to be lead sponsor of the FairTax effort in the Senate this year, said his press secretary, Katie Niederee.

Although Wichita isn’t in Jenkins’ congressional district, Moran invited her to participate in the forum because of her expertise as an accountant and membership on the House Ways and Means Committee. That committee handles almost all tax measures and would be the key committee for any major tax reform, said her spokesman, Tom Brandt.

Appearing with the two Congress members will be Steven Hayes, president of the group “Americans for Fair Taxation,” a leading advocacy lobby for the FairTax.

The FairTax proposal would abolish personal and corporate federal income taxes and phase out the Internal Revenue Service. It would also do away with gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare and self-employment taxes.

The FairTax plan would replace those with a 23 percent sales tax on goods and services, which supporters say would raise about the same amount of money as the current tax code. Taxpayers would get a sales tax “prebate” on spending up to the poverty level.

The plan is similar in concept to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s “Glide Path to Zero” tax plan, which envisions eliminating state income taxes and funding government primarily through sales and consumption taxes.

In a January news release, Moran said the FairTax “would place all taxpayers on equal footing, protect Americans from government intrusion by the IRS, boost business growth, and incentivize savings and investment – all while collecting revenue at levels similar to those of our current mess of a tax code.”

Opponents of the FairTax say it’s anything but fair and that the rate would have to be about 34 percent – not the stated 23 percent – to make up for the revenue lost from abolishing the other taxes.

President Obama is on record in opposition to the FairTax plan and would very likely veto it if it passes the House and Senate.

“Replacing our current system with a national sales tax would produce a major increase in taxes for middle class families, while slashing taxes for the wealthiest Americans,” a White House position statement said. “Despite its name, that's not a fair way to reform our tax system.”

The Tuesday Moran/Jenkins forum will be held at the Wichita State University Hughes Metropolitan Complex, 5015 E. 29th St. North, Wichita. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the program to start at 6:30.

This story was originally published August 27, 2015 at 12:59 PM with the headline "Moran, Jenkins to campaign in Wichita for replacing income tax with sales tax."