FairTax FAQ's / History
How it all started
In 1994 three Houston businessmen were meeting together for lunch. As was
common, they began commiserating about absurdity of the Federal
Income tax code. But at this particular lunch, they decided to do something
about it and each pledged $1.5 Million as seed money to hire the best tax
experts in the country to identify the faults with the current system, to
determine what American citizens would like to see in tax reform, and then
to design the best system of taxation.
With their initial infusion of $4.5
Million, the three went on to raise an additional $17 Million. That money
funded focus groups with citizens around the country to find out what people
believed was important in a tax plan. It also funded studies with nationally
prominent experts in tax policy.
The final result
The results of these efforts became a bi-partisan bill originally sponsored by Collin Peterson (D-MN) and John Linder (R-GA), and first submitted to the House of Representatives as “The Fair Tax of 1999.” it currently is before Congress as HR 25 and before Senate as S 296 with 61 co-sponsors in the House and 2 in Senate.
- View the bill and its co-sponsors at Thomas-Library of Congress Site (Select "Bill Number" and type in "HR 25" or "S 296".)
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