Tax Freedom
Kit
If you are a member of CATS and your membership is
current you should have just received the most recent
issue of the CATS national newsletter, "CATS D.C.
Update". You read about the latest campaign using the
Dan Pilla video, the petitions to all presidential
candidates, and the coupon to order your own "Tax
Freedom Kit". I strongly urge all of you to avail
yourself of these valuable tools and take part in
this vital campaign. Use the order form that came
with the "CATS D.C. Update" or simply call CATS at
1-800-767-7577 and order your "Tax Freedom Kit",
featuring the Dan Pilla National Retail Sales Tax
Video.
Also included with the latest "CATS D.C. Update"
was a 5 question survey titled "Questionnaire to all
CATS Members". It is very important that you take
part in this survey and send your responses in to the
CATS National Office. If you lost or misplaced the
survey, I will have additional copies at our next
meeting or you may get one by calling me at
454-5736.
This campaign and the survey are two simple steps
that you can take to do your part in the effort to
replace the IRS and income tax with a national retail
sales tax. So, don't be a spectator, only watching
and waiting from the sidelines, be a participant. Get
in there and join the game where we all win.
New Congressional
Sponsors:
Good news! Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and Rep. Gary
Condit (D-CA) are the latest Members of Congress to
sign on as cosponsors of H.R. 2525 -“The
Fair Tax”. They join Reps. John Linder
(R-GA), Collin Peterson (D-MN), James Barcia (D-MI),
Tom Campbell (R-CA), Ralph M. Hall (D-TX), and Henry
Bonilla (R-TX). It’s time for you to call and
write your Nevada Members of Congress and urge them
to add their names to the list of national sales tax
cosponsors by signing on to both H.R. 2001 and
H.R. 2525. Do it today!!
L.V. CATS in the
media
On Thursday, November 18 the Las Vegas
Review-Journal published an editorial entitled "More
IRS abuse: Corrupt den cannot be reformed.", in which
abuses by the IRS being used as a political weapon
are detailed.
I fired off the following letter to the editor
which appeared in the Sunday, November 28, 1999
edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
To the editor:
The Review-Journal is 90 percent correct in its Nov.
18 editorial, "More IRS abuse: Corrupt den cannot be
reformed." Decades of IRS "reform" have proven this
time and time again. When are we, as a people, going
to wake up and demand the IRS be abolished?
Your editorial is hard-hitting and exposed yet
another valid reason that an agency of this type
should never be allowed to exist in a nation of free
people. Yet why do I say your editorial is only 90
percent correct? Because you finish by calling for
the replacement "of the IRS and the complex, corrupt,
punitive tax code it enforces" with a flat tax or
national sales tax. Why not tell your readers the
truth? The flat "income" tax (notice the word income
is mysteriously missing whenever the flat tax is
mentioned) still requires an IRS to determine what
"income" is. It still retains the complex, corrupt,
punitive tax code which will always be open to
manipulation by lobbyists in the name of "special
interests." It means the government still has to know
how much money you make and what you do with it.
On the other hand, a national retail sales tax does
away with all of the above mentioned problems.
Individuals no longer will have to track their income
and file an income tax return. Special interests will
not be constantly lobbying Congress to "tinker" with
the tax code. Jobs will be created. The trade deficit
will be reduced. U.S. citizens will have more money
to spend or save as they choose. The benefits of a
national retail sales tax are many.
There is a group working to get this job done.
Citizens for an Alternative Tax System (CATS). It has
been around for 10 years working hard at the
grass-roots level educating citizens and government
leaders alike. It even has a chapter right here in
Las Vegas that holds free monthly meetings for those
individuals who would like to help get this done.
Please do not propose the flat tax and national
sales tax as equal solutions to the same problem.
They are definitely not equal, and only one is a real
solution.
D.P. BRACKEN Las Vegas
The writer is chairman of the Las Vegas chapter of
Citizens for an Alternative Tax System.
Immediately following my letter to the editor was
a letter from another individual in which the writer
stated that many of us who want a national sales tax
are wealthy and simply trying to shift the tax burden
to the middle class. This is very interesting to me;
since I have been the chairman of the Las Vegas
Chapter of CATS for the last 8 years, I have yet to
see these "wealthy" supporters at any of our meetings
or rallies. If what he says were true, CATS would be
flooded with donations from all of these wealthy
individuals who are trying to shift the tax burden
onto those of us in the middle-class, like myself. I
know almost all of the CATS members in the Las Vegas
area and none of them can be classified as wealthy.
In fact every one of them would fall in the category
of either poor or middle-class.
This only goes to show that there is still a lot
of confusion regarding the national sales tax, and
that many individuals are unaware of the insidious
"hidden tax" that is inherent in the income tax. So
many people are oblivious to the fact that this
income tax system we exist under actually places
almost all of the tax burden on the middle class and
the poor; in the form of high prices, i.e.
"inflation", for all of the goods and services on
which we spend our hard-earned money. This even
includes the necessities like food, clothing,
shelter.
Under a national sales tax, the person who spends
the most will pay the most in taxes. Ask yourself,
"Who spends more, a wealthy person or a poor
person?"
As you can plainly see from the above example we
still have a lot of work to do in educating the
public as to the real nature of income taxes and the
truths regarding the national retail sales tax. So,
roll up your sleeves and get to work. Spread the
word. One of the best ways to do this is with the Tax
Freedom Kit mentioned in this newsletter. Please
order yours today and take some action! Get
involved!
Every month I spend approximately 30 - 35 hours of
my time on this newsletter; which includes the
creation, proofreading, formatting, folding,
labeling, applying postage, and inserting into the
web site. My time is given freely. Since I am a
volunteer with CATS, there is no charge for my time.
I do this because of my firm belief and unwavering
conviction in the national retail sales tax as the
best solution to the many problems we face with the
IRS and income tax system.
But, the economic side of this is another story
altogether. Since the newsletter goes out to over 375
individuals, the cost for printing, labels, and
postage alone exceeds $175 per month, or $2,100 per
year. That money must come from somewhere.
Considering the 375 people who receive this
newsletter, there are about 15 - 20 people who donate
on a regular basis to pay the costs associated with
this newsletter.
So, I ask each of you to send something each
month. Just a little something to help defray some of
the costs that must come out of my pocket every month
if I don’t receive enough in donations from
those same 15 - 20 individuals that care enough to
help out. Even one or two dollars a month would make
a difference. Don’t think for a moment that
sending only $1 or $2 every month won’t help,
believe me it will!!
This newsletter comes to you free every month, and
I want to keep it that way. My goal is to continue
sending this newsletter out free every month so that
our members and supporters will have a way to receive
the news on a regular basis.
I hope that you look forward to receiving this
newsletter every month, as something other than the
usual “junk mail” which normally fills
your mailbox every day.
I will do whatever possible to make certain that
this newsletter continues to be published, until we
finish this noble task. I only ask that you do the
same.
My sincere appreciation goes out to every one of
you who are making regular or periodic contributions
to keep the Las Vegas Chapter operating. Donations of
ANY size are needed and wanted. ALL assistance is
greatly appreciated. Please make your check or Money
Order payable to: "D.P. Bracken" and mail to:
CATS Las Vegas Chapter
5181 Gains Mill St.
Las Vegas, NV 89122
Remember....you can always: Contact CATS
at: 1-800-767-7577
or call me:
D.P. "Bracken" Bracken
Chairman, Las Vegas Chapter
(702) 454-5736
Citizens for an Alternative Tax System (CATS)
is a national grassroots non-profit organization
committed to bringing about the end of the income tax
and the IRS by replacing both with a national retail
sales tax (NRST).
