Two month tax holiday
From Texas Congressamn Louie Gohmert...
With $350 billion of the $700 billion bailout still available to Paulson pending Congressional approval, a conservative Texas lawmaker is proposing to put that money towards a tax holiday from both personal income tax and FICA tax for Americans during January and February of 2009.
He stated, "By instating a temporary tax holiday, we could electrify the American economy and provide overwhelming relief to taxpayers, all for less than the cost of the current failed Paulson-Pelosi bailout system."
"We need to give this money to the people who earned it. I am sick of Washington millionaires trying to decide which of their cronies should get the next wad of taxpayer money," Rep. Louie Gohmert continued. "Think about how much you would have if you didn't have any social security or income tax withheld from your pay check, or if you didn't have to pay those taxes for January and February! Americans could take and invest their own money where they believe it should go - to paying down mortgages, buying a new car, making credit card payments. The economy would get relief where it is needed the most. Why try to decide how to prevent foreclosures? Just give taxpayers their own money to catch up on their payments. Those in lower income brackets who are hit the hardest by the FICA tax would see huge money back, and then THEY could choose who should benefit from their hard earned money. Even the self-employed and small business owners would receive a fantastic amount of their own much-needed money, and they will be able to invest that back into their businesses and even create the ability to hire more people.”
Gohmert is currently preparing a bill to declare the tax holiday for January and February of 2009 and is also gathering support at the same time. He said, “We can save more home mortgages, increase employment, and boost economic growth for a lower price tag with this plan than with any centralized bureaucratic program, all by giving the power back to the taxpayers. I am demanding that not another penny goes to executive bailouts, but these billions of taxpayer dollars should go to the taxpayers who earned them."
According to American Solutions, a conservative think tank founded by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Americans pay $101.6 billion per month in personal income tax and $65.6 billion per month in FICA tax. Under Gohmert's proposed plan, all of these taxes would not be paid during January and February of 2009, and the money would stay in the hands of American taxpayers - the ones who best know where economic stimulus should be targeted. Gohmert's two month tax holiday would stimulate the economy while costing less than the remainder of the Paulson-Pelosi bailout plan.
Interesting idea, but here's several problems...
1. Democrats will fight it tooth and nail. They want to take our money, then make us beg for part of it back in exchange for granting them more power. Simply letting us keep it removes their power play.
2. The massive "moron" segment of the population will complain bitterly. Their pea-brains can comprehend a check in the hand, but they won't be able to comprehend two or three times as much money left in their paycheck. They simply lack the intelligence to understand that one check for $500 is actually less than an additional $250 left in 4 sequential paychecks. They will want the $500 in hand. Remember these are the same dimwits that when asked how much taxes they pay, will inevitably say, "Oh, I don't pay any, I always get money back." This is a significant percentage of the population. Fortunately, however, the vast majority of them are too stupid to vote. They do, however, whine--a lot, which provides fodder for the MSM to claim they are "suffering"
3. So as a political ploy it would require a tremendous amount of support to achieve a goal most people will be unable to comprehend. The goal of politics is not to make the nation better, but to get re-elected. The press has always been the tool by which the voting public translated real leadership into political support. Our Press today is but an arm of the DNC and fails in their role to educate the populace. The Press/MSM would be against anything the DNC would be against, making the fight even harder.
I applaud Gohmert's efforts, but I think ultimately they'll be fruitless.
Posted by Danny Carlton at December 2, 2008 8:28 AM