FairTax FAQ's / History
How it all started
In 1994 a group of 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 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 funds, the group 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 65 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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