Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's support for the "Fair Tax" proposal may have been the key to his strong second-place finish in the Ames Straw Poll, says Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic Online. Ambinder's blog post contains a long message from Tim Hoagland, communications director for FairTax.org, which says the organization didn't try to round up Huckabee supporters specifically for the Ames Straw Poll, but...
For the record, everywhere we went on our 25 city Iowa bus tour over the last two weeks we saw crowds enthusiastic for the FairTax. We invited one and all to come to Ames on our 10 buses and have little doubt that supporters of each candidate--and undecided's--came to Ames with us. This is a grassroots campaign to advance an issue important to the nation and every taxpayer.
We never inquired as to whom someone supported, only asking them to come to our two events. We estimate that 5,000-7,000 people came through our tent during the day. ... We saw a lot of Romney and Brownback supporters wearing "FairTax" stickers on top of their candidates T-shirt even though those candidates don't support the FairTax. Simply put, the idea is resonating with the public, irrespective of political affiliation or candidate preference.
Having said that, it cannot really be a surprise that those citizens who feel so strongly about the FairTax naturally gravitate to those candidates who most strongly advocate enactment. It is, after all, a non-regressive national retail sales tax that replaces the dysfunctional income tax system, eliminates all federal taxes on the poor and benefits taxpayers at every income level.
That Mike Huckabee, who made the FairTax a central plank of his campaign efforts in Iowa and elsewhere, benefited from the popularity of FairTax is only a surprise to those who have not followed the growing grassroots popularity of the FairTax...
Ambinder in a separate, earlier post, says homeschoolers may have helped Huckabee finish a strong second behind Mitt Romney.
Indeed, the Huckabee campaign did reach out to homeschoolers - with a rather convincing video.
Homeschoolers and Fair Tax supporters - that's a pretty good start to a winning coalition.
*Regarding the headline. Technically Huckabee didn't win the Ames Straw Poll. But Mitt Romney's disappointing 31 percent of the vote is hardly a win for Romney against a field devoid of all the other major candidates in the race. As I wrote yesterday, Huckabee, not Romney, is the biggest winner of Ames.
Huckabee is an adroit public speaker. He communcates his message in life-like, cogent terms, with compelling examples like the story he told (at the Ames Straw Poll) of what his then-11-yo daughter entered into the "Comments" section of a Visitors Book after visiting the Yad Vashem holocaust museum: “Why didn't somebody do something?”
Very effective. Huckabee is all about calling his listeners to "do something," to awaken them to their own empowerment, and summon them to action in order that "Main Street," and not "Wall Street," will prevail in guarding the values and beliefs upon which the Republic was founded.
Huckabee puts his listeners at ease, and reassures them, articulating clear concepts in a natural, easy style (no doubt something well-cultivated as a pastor). He’s not angry or demanding, like a Ron Paul, nor is he as “rigidly-scripted” as Romney, and his large brown eyes peer through a humble demeanor, drawing a striking contrast to a somewhat mechanical-squinty Brownback. One can easily imagine sitting comfortably with this man over a cup of coffee at the Main Street Cafe.
Most importantly, perhaps, Huckabee convinces many that he is ONE with the FairTax grassroots movement. While many - like Romney, and others, who are invested in the current income tax system - seek to demagog the well-researched FairTax plan, its acceptance in the professional / academic community continues to grow. Renown economist Laurence Kotlikoff believes that failure to enact the FairTax - choosing instead to try to "flatten" what he deems to be a non-flattenable income tax system - will eventuate into an irrevocable economic meltdown because of the hidden aspects of the current system that make political accountability impossible.
Romney's recent WEAK response to FairTax questioning on “This Week with Geo. Stephanopoulos” drew a sharper contrast between Huckabee and all other presidential front-runners who will not embrace it. Huckabee understands that what's wrong with the income tax can't be fixed with "a tap of the hammer, nor a twist of the screwdriver." That his opponents cling to the destructive Tax Code, the IRS, preserving political power of granting tax favors at continued cost to - and misery of - American families, invigorates his campaign's raison d'etre.
Of the FairTax, Huckabee asserts that it's...
• SIMPLE, easy to understand
• EFFICIENT, inexpensive to comply with and doesn't cause less-than-optimal business decisions for tax minimization purposes
• FAIR, FLAT, and FAMILY FRIENDLY, loophole-free, and everyone pays their share
• LOW TAX RATE is achieved by broad base with no exclusions
• PREDICTABLE, doesn't change, so financial planning is possible
• UNINTRUSIVE, doesn't intrude into our personal affairs or limit our liberty
• VISIBLE, not hidden from the public in tax-inflated prices or otherwise
• PRODUCTIVE, rewards - rather than penalizes - work and productivity
A detailed benefits analysis of the plan (from The FairTax Book) explains Huckabee's ardent advocacy:
FOR INDIVIDUALS:
• No more tax on income - make as much as you wish
• You receive your full paycheck - no more deductions
• You pay the tax when you buy "at retail" - not "used"
• No more double taxation (e.g. like on current Capital Gains)
• Reduction of "pre-FairTaxed" retail prices by 20%-30%
• Adding back 29.9% FairTax maintains current price levels
• FairTax would constitute 23% portion of new prices
• Every household receives a monthly check, or "pre-bate"
• "Prebate" is "advance payback" for monthly consumption to poverty level
• FairTax's "prebate" ensures progressivity, poverty protection
• Finally, citizens are knowledgeable of what their tax IS
• Elimination of "parasitic" Income Tax industry
• NO MORE IRS. NO MORE FILING OF TAX RETURNS by individuals
• Those possessing illicit forms of income will ALSO pay the FairTax
• Households have more disposable income to purchase goods
• Savings is bolstered with reduction of interest rates
FOR BUSINESSES:
• Corporate income and payroll taxes revoked under FairTax
• Business compensated for collecting tax at "cash register"
• No more tax-related lawyers, lobbyists on company payrolls
• No more embedded (hidden) income/payroll taxes in prices
• Reduced costs. Competition - not tax policy - drives prices
• Off-shore "tax haven" headquarters can now return to U.S
• No more "favors" from politicians at expense of taxpayers
• Resources go to R&D and study of competition - not taxes
• Marketplace distortions eliminated for fair competition
• US exports increase their share of foreign markets
FOR THE COUNTRY:
• 7% - 13% economic growth projected in the first year of the FairTax
• Jobs return to the U.S.
• Foreign corporations "set up shop" in the U.S.
• Tax system trends are corrected to "enlarge the pie"
• Larger economic "pie," means thinner tax rate "slices"
• Initial 23% portion of price is pressured downward as "pie"
increases
• No more "closed door" tax deals by politicians and business
• FairTax sets new global standard. Other countries will follow
While passionately supporting FairTax, Huckabee understands that, if elected President, Congress will have to present the bill for his signature. His call to action goes beyond his candidacy, Main Street will have to demand that their legislators deliver the bill.
Posted by: Ian | August 14, 2007 8:49 PM | Permalink to Comment