Barack Obama and the Fair Tax an Intriguing Opportunity

Supporters of the Fair Tax, that is a national sales tax which would replace our nation’s idiotic income tax structure have an interesting opportunity in Barack Obama. The presumptive Democratic nominee for president hasn’t come out in favor of the Fair Tax but he hasn’t come out against it either.
Obama is clearly hedging his bets on the Fair Tax issue, the official Fair Tax website (www.fairtax.org) reports that John McCain has come out squarely against the Fair Tax. McCain has said that he would vote against the Fair Tax or a similar scheme. Obama has said the Fair Tax needs more study which is political speak for “it’s probably a good idea.” Obama’s position is intriguing indeed for it opens up the possibility of real reform on one of the most serious issues facing America today our tax system isn’t working.
Average people face a rising tax load while the government can’t find enough money to pay its bills even though the economy is booming. Meanwhile the rich who have lots of tax breaks laugh all the way to the bank and pay fewer taxes. Now any economist worth his salt will tell you that a national sales tax would raise enough money to pay off the national debt and pay for all the stuff we want our government to do. Virtually every other industrialized country on Earth has a national sales tax, the European nations and Canada which liberals worship have high national sales taxes.
Yet nobody in Washington is talking about such a tax because it would away Congress’s ability to create tax loopholes. This puts money in lobbyists and politicians bank accounts so it’s a sacred cow they can’t touch.
President Obama would be in a unique position to champion the Fair Tax or something similar. The presidency is the bully pulpit, the President can champion causes no other politician can yet even Presidents have limits. No Republican would be able to promote a National Sales tax because they would be vulnerable to media claims that such a tax would hurt the poor and the working class even though such claims are pure bull shit. Hence John McCain’s almost pathological opposition to such a measure, he is a rich Republican who lives in a country club so he can’t oppose the Fair Tax no matter how good that would be for the country and those that work for a living (a class of individuals that includes neither John McCain or Barack Obama which is part of our country’s present crisis).
President Obama, former community activist and card carrying liberal Democrat would face no such criticism if he came out in favor of the Fair Tax. Indeed he could point out why the Fair Tax is a good fundamentality liberal idea and sign it. Democratic Congressmen with their pockets stuffed full of tax lawyers money and media shills would be in no position to attack him.
But would President Obama make such a bold move? Well if President Obama’s poll numbers were falling and he faced a hostile Congress it would be possible. It’s happened before.
Remember Bill Clinton and Welfare Reform by the early 1990s it was obvious that Lyndon Johnson’s welfare system was a dismal failure. Lots of well documented research proved that federal welfare was actually keeping people in poverty and making social problems worse. Average working Americans were sick of welfare recipients laying around watching TV while their incomes shrank. Yet no Republican could sign off on welfare reform out of being seen as mean to the poor, even though welfare was hurting the poor. Enter Bill Clinton, having tried to govern as a traditional big government Democrat and failing miserably. Bill Clinton eagerly signed off on welfare reform and got reelected by a wide margin.
My guess is that Obama will pull a Clinton with tax reform, some time in 2009 or 2010 when his polls are falling and it looks like Jeb Bush is coming on strong in the polls, he’ll drag the big idea out of the closet. The big idea will be the national sales tax, imagine the public reaction if the president goes on TV on April 14 and says folks next year you won’t have to pay income tax or worry about a tax return if Congress votes for my new tax bill.
Of course President Obama’s position on the Fair Tax will be probably be a mute point because I seriously doubt Congress would pass such a sensible measure. Congressmen and Senators simply don’t want to take the money the income tax brings them out of their pockets. Congress will only go along with such a radical reform if their backs are against the wall, as they were in 1933 when the nation was facing the Great Depression. If the present economic crisis gets that bad we may see the Fair Tax.