Latest Press Release by Greg Knott, Libertarian for Indiana's 9th Congressional District

"May 10, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Knott defends FairTax proposal after Hill’s attack

In his May 5 press release, incumbent Democratic Congressman Baron Hill attacked the FairTax as “an extremist and economically-detrimental” idea and misrepresented the revenue neutral proposal as a “23 percent national sales tax on goods and services”.

Greg Knott, the Libertarian challenger for the 9th District responded to Hill’s misleading statements saying, “FairTax is just a better way to collect the same amount of taxes, and is not a tax increase for anyone except criminals. Drug dealers, prostitutes and other tax cheats in the underground economy currently pay no taxes because they don’t report their cash income to the government and don’t receive paychecks with payroll taxes already taken out. The FairTax forces these criminals to pay their fair share when they buy items at the store which will allow taxes to be lowered for honest middle class Americans while collecting the same amount of revenue to pay for government services.”

Asked who else benefits from the current tax system, Knott replied, “As the third wealthiest person in the world, Warren Buffet paid a 17.7% tax rate on his $46 million of taxable income in 2006, while his employees paid an average 32.9% tax rate (his receptionist's tax rate was 30%). I agree with Buffet that his real tax rate should not be lower than the people who work for him, and believe FairTax is the best solution to fix this injustice. Congressmen like Baron Hill also benefit from the status quo since they only pay social security taxes on $106,800 of their $174,000 salary while middle class Americans pay social security taxes on their whole income.”
When asked who will benefit most from the FairTax when it is passed into law, Knott said, “People who are unemployed or underemployed will benefit the most because economists have concluded export prices are inflated by an average of 20% due to federal hidden taxes. Removing the hidden taxes makes exports more competitive globally and will result in high paying manufacturing jobs flowing back to depressed areas like the Midwest. The working poor will also benefit since their paychecks will no longer be reduced by taxes and the sales tax rebate on poverty level spending will insure everyone is able to put food on the table and a roof over their head.”

Knott reminds Hoosiers who want FairTax to, “call 202-225-5315 and educate Baron Hill’s staff with the facts on fairtax.org so that he will co-sponsor the legislation. If Hill continues to block this progressive jobs bill then voters should fire him in November and elect me to send a message to Washington demanding common sense tax reform.”

For more information on “Knott for Congress, not politics as usual”, call campaign manager, Jonathan “Luke” Hilton, at 317-850-6078 or email nobullcongress@gmail.com.
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