Campaign News

Lauzen Statement on Oberweis’ FairTax Charges

Monday, 2/4/2008

North Aurora, Illinois (February 4, 2008) – State Senator Chris Lauzen today responded to a litany of negative mailers, television commercials, and attack ads concerning the FairTax from Jim Oberweis, his opponent in the Republican primary for Congress.   “Jim’s authority for his latest attack happens to be a Wall Street Journal editorial, where author Bruce Bartlett concluded that the applicable rate for the FairTax is 30 percent. This is a misleading and erroneous statistic, and it has been exposed as such by leading scholars. The only proper way to quote the FairTax rate is on a replacement, or ‘tax-inclusive’, basis. Determining the FairTax rate on this basis is critical because it would replace the income tax, payroll taxes, and a host of other taxes that Americans now pay. Using Jim’s figure ignores the real-world impact of scrapping the Internal Revenue Code in favor of the FairTax. He fails to take into account how each taxpayer would be affected. When viewed on a replacement basis, the FairTax rate is 23 percent, not 30 percent tax as my opponent charges,” said Lauzen. As support for his position, Lauzen cites a comprehensive study and critique of Mr. Bartlett’s analysis by Boston University Professor of Economics Laurence J. Kotlikoff, a digital copy which is available by clicking here. An additional tax analysis, entitled “Taxing Sales Under the FairTax: What Rate Works?” is also instructive as to the 23 percent tax rate and is available by clicking here. The FairTax Act of 2007 (H.R. 25; S. 1025) has 74 co-sponsors in the U.S. House and Senate. Former U.S. Rep. J. Dennis Hastert was a co-sponsor and supporter of the FairTax.                                                    ###