Just a bit ago, I got a phone call from Thelma Drake. Well, it wasn’t really her… wait – it was! After a brief recorded message by Drake, I was invited to join her in a live telephone town hall meeting already in progress. Intrigued, I pressed the button and was connected to the conference call. Sure enough, Drake was in the middle of answering a question about the fair tax.
Over the next 30 minutes or so, I listened as participants from all over the 2nd Congressional District asked the Congresswoman questions. Anyone could ask a question by pressing the pound key and being put in the que. Drake was obviously sitting in front of a computer showing the caller’s information, as she was able to refer to the next caller’s household by name. Talk about reaching out and touching the voters!
Questions ran the gamut: raises for enlisted personnel, welfare reform, Medicare Part D, smaller government, illegal immigration, alternative energy, and negative ads, among others. She took about 10 questions during the time I was on the call. Some participants were literally gushing at the opportunity to talk to their Congresswoman. One guy wasn’t so happy: he wanted to know why she called him, as he was about to sit down to dinner. (She explained that he didn’t have to take the call.)
I’ve heard Drake speak often enough that I can just about provide her answers for her 🙂 With a sole exception, her answers were as I expected. The exception was a question that she didn’t answer. The participant asked about conservative principles of smaller government and how can we roll back government involvement in our lives. Drake talked about the elimination of government programs, which addressed the first part of the question. But she never answered the second part.
I would have liked to have heard her answer on this. This is one question that I don’t know what her answer would be. It is, for obvious reasons, an important one for me.
Perhaps I’ll get a chance to ask the question myself. At the end of the call, Drake said she’d like to do this type of town hall meeting again.
Now don’t go purging my phone number from the list 🙂
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VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Actually, that sounds like a very good campaign idea. Will the audio be posted somewhere?
Did she mention any specific programs she wanted to cut? (Politicians generally don’t, as it raises the ire of those nursing at that particular government teat.)
Eliminating such programs as “No Child Gets Ahead” would certainly be a step to rolling back government involvement in our lives. And if the “fair tax” is the National Sales Tax, then the repeal of the 16th Amendment would be a tremendous improvement.
I didn’t record it. I guess you could contact the campaign to see if they did. As for programs to cut – no, she didn’t mention any. And yes, the FairTax is the replacement of all taxes with a sales tax.
First I want to thank Vivian for this wonderful blog. I am new to this blog stuff and a friend of mine said I should check out your page. Now as for the 2nd District race…
WOW! Thelma really knows how to reach out to voters. This proves that she is willing to discuss issues with voters right on the spot! How will mister Kellam handle discussing issues in front of the entire United States in Congress if he cant even discuss them with the people of the second district in a small debate? She is kicking this guys butt.
I like the Sales Tax idea, but only if the 16th Amendment is repealed simultaneously. Otherwise, we’ll just end up with both.
FairTax? To who? What an appallingly bad idea. We can’t sweep these cranks out of Washington quick enough . . .
As I understand it, the idea is to have a National Sales Tax, with the first $10,000 or so (I’m not sure of that number, and it would change anyway) of purchases being tax-free. That would be done by giving each individual a check for the tax rate times the exemption. (So if the rate is 20%, and the exemption is $10,000, everyone would get a check for $2000.) Tax-exempt organizations could apply for refunds of taxes paid.
The rich could no longer hide their income in trusts while still getting to spend it. Companies would not spend so much figuring out their taxes. (Those expenses are passed on to the customers.) Individuals would not have to deal with convoluted tax forms, nor would we have to worry about penalties for withdrawing money from our retirement accounts to handle emergencies. We would not have to worry about not withdrawing enough from our retirement accounts, and have some confiscated by the government.
Right now, people without health insurance cannot have a Health Savings Account. If there is no income tax, then it’s not an issue.
Currently, a lower-income person who donates to his church receives no tax write-off, because he is probably not itemizing. Meanwhile, a rich person (who in general contributes less of his income, on a percentage basis) can get a thrid of his donations back from the federal government.
Lower-income people are more likely to rent than to own, but they get no tax break like homeowners do for mortgage interest. That would not be an issue with a sales tax.
Does that answer your question?
Why do you oppose it?
Crap… I think we were called but my wife thought it was some random recording so she hung up. Now it makes sense. Bummer.
Viv, pardon the shameless plug:
TINYTOT, check out the blog I write for, Bearing Drift (www.bearingdrift.com). Be warned, it is a conservative blog :-), but as Vivian will tell you, we are good people and fair.
Welcome to the blogosphere and yes, bookmark Vivian’s page. It is one of the best anywhere and she is one of the brightest people on the net… Actually she is one of the brightest people period! Her and I don’t always agree, but we are agreeable and I am proud to count her as a friend. What is cool is that we met on the blogs! Blogs are the coffee houses of the 21st century!
Jack, I think progressive taxation is the fairest taxation. “FairTax” kills that. Further? I’ve seen who its proponents are, and I wouldn’t trust them any further than I could throw the current tax code. It’s not a serious effort, so it’s not getting a serious argument from me.
MB, why do you think progressive taxation is the fairest? What level of progressivity is “fair”? What is the highest percentage anyone should have to pay in income tax? Adam Smith believed that a tax on rent (or the equivalent for owners) was the fairest.