It's Time For Michigan To Embrace The Fair Tax by Akindele Akinyemi

I support the Michigan Fair Tax bill that State Representative Fulton Sheen has introduced in the House Tax Policy Committee last year. I have previously spoke on supporting the Fair Tax here in Michigan because it is much better than the pitiful Michigan Business Tax we have now.

It's a total damn shame that NO STATE REPRESENTATIVES from Detroit supports the fair tax reform. Please keep these people in mind when they run for re-election in 2008.

State Representative scorecard
Name	Dist	Party	For	Against	Leans	Leans	Unknown
					For	Against
Frank Accavitti Jr.	42	D					X
Daniel Acciavatti *	32	R	X
David Agema *	74	R	X
Fran Amos	43	R					X
Kathy Angerer	55	D					X
Richard Ball *	85	R	X
Joan Bauer	68	D					X
Doug Bennett	92	D					X
Steve Bieda	25	D					X
Darwin Booher *	102	R	X
Jack Brandenburg	24	R					X
Terry Brown	84	D					X
Pam Byrnes	52	D					X
Barb Byrum	67	D					X
Brian Calley *	87	R	X
Tom Casperson *	108	R	X
Bruce Caswell *	58	R	X
Bill Caul	99	R					X
Marsha Cheeks	6	D					X
Brenda Clack	34	D					X
Ed Clemente	14	D					X
Paul Condino	35	D					X
Bob Constan	16	D					X
Marc Corriveau	20	D					X
Andy Coulouris	95	D					X
George Cushingberry Jr.	8	D					X
Robert Dean	75	D					X
Craig DeRoche	38	R					X
Andy Dillon	17	D					X
Marie Donigan	26	D					X
Kate Ebli	56	D					X
Kevin Elsenheimer *	105	R	X
Judy Emmons *	70	R	X
John Espinoza	83	D					X
Barbara Farrah	13	D					X
Edward Gaffney *	1	R	X
John Garfield *	45	R	X
Matthew Gillard	106	D					X
Lee Gonzales	49	D					X
Kevin Green	77	R					X
Martin Griffin	64	D					X
Richard Hammel	48	D					X
Ted Hammon	50	D					X
Goeff Hansen	100	R					X
Dave Hildenbrand	86	R					X
Morris Hood III	11	D					X
Jacob Hoogendyk *	61	R	X
Hoon-Yung Hopgood	22	D					X
Kenneth Horn *	94	R	X
Bill Huizenga	90	R					X
Joe Hune	47	R					X
Shanelle Jackson	9	D					X
Bert Johnson	5	D					X
Robert Jones	60	D					X
Rick Jones *	71	R	X
Marty Knollenberg *	41	R	X
Michael Lahti	110	D					X
Philip LaJoy *	21	R	X
Kathleen Law	23	D					X
David Law *	39	R	X
Richard LeBlanc	18	D					X
Gabe Leland	10	D					X
LaMar Lemmons Jr.	2	D					X
Steven Lindberg	109	D					X
Jim Marleau *	46	R	X
Jeff Mayes	96	D					X
Gary McDowell	107	D					X
Mark Meadows	69	D					X
Arlan Meekhof *	89	R	X
Andy Meisner	27	D					X
Tim Melton	29	D					X
Kim Meltzer *	33	R	X
Fred Miller	31	D					X
John Moolenaar	98	R					X
Tim Moore *	97	R	X
Chuck Moss *	40	R	X
Neal Nitz	78	R					X
Mike Nofs *	62	R	X
Paul Opsommer *	93	R	X
Brian Palmer *	36	R	X
David Palsrok *	101	R	X
John Pastor *	19	R	X
Phil Pavlov *	81	R	X
Tom Pearce	73	R					X
Gino Polidori	15	D					X
John Proos	79	R					X
David Robertson *	51	R	X
Tory Rocca	30	R					X
Michael Sak	76	D					X
Tonya Schuitmaker *	80	R	X
Bettie Cook Scott	3	D					X
Rick Shaffer *	59	R	X
Fulton Sheen *	88	R	X
Joel Sheltrown	103	D					X
Mike Simpson	65	D					X
Alma Smith	54	D					X
Virgil Smith	7	D					X
Dudley Spade	57	D					X
John Stahl *	82	R	X
John Stakoe *	44	R	X
Glenn Steil Jr. *	72	R	X
Steve Tobocman	12	D					X
Aldo Vagnozzi	37	D					X
Mary Valentine	91	D					X
Howard Walker	104	R					X
Chris Ward	66	R					X
Rebekah Warren	53	D					X
Lorence Wenke *	63	R	X
Lisa Wojno	28	D					X
Coleman Young II	4	D					X
Totals	110		36				74

This is a measure to place before voters in the next general election a Constitutional amendment that would replace the state income tax, the Michigan Business Tax (or its successor), and property taxes levied on business tools and equipment (“personal property tax”) with a 9.5 percent sales tax on all goods and services. A monthly “prebate” of $70 per adult and $24 per child would be sent to every household, to reimburse the amount the tax collects on the purchase of basic necessities. The Joint Resolution makes just the Constitutional changes needed to accommodate the so-called “Fair Tax” plan, while the rest would be established through legislation.
Business-to-business transactions would not be taxed. However, we consumers would be paying taxes on food, rent, home purchases, health care, car insurance, credit card interest and all other consumer purchases. All the state's households would receive a tax rebate that would cover the average taxes paid by a household whose income is just on the poverty line. With the rebate, the average family of four making $28,000 a year would pay no state taxes.

So how come our state lawmakers are having a hard time with embracing this idea. The same reason why they do not understand charter schools...the lack of knowledge. I cannot see how ANYONE in the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus cannot endorse this when it will belefit the urban community.

First it is a broad-based tax: It will tax all consumer purchases of new goods and services. It is likely that consumers will be spending more on services in the future, so this tax will maintain a stable revenue stream.

It does away with the current tax on business investment - the personal-property tax.

It avoids tax pyramiding. Businesses will not be paying taxes on previously taxed goods as all business-to-business sales are exempt from the tax.

It taxes, at least, some of the proceeds of the state's underground and illegal economy. Drug dealers will not collect the tax from their customers, but at least the dealers will pay a tax when they buy their groceries.

It's time for a change in our tax system. For those who are running for state representatives should embrace the fair tax resolution to put before the voters.