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We the people ask the federal government to Take or explain a position on an issue or policy:

Invite Neal Boortz, the author of The FairTax Book, to spend one hour talking with the President about tax reform.

Created by N.B. on January 08, 2013

A petition to request that the President spend one hour discussing The FairTax, the most thoroughly researched tax reform legislation in history, with Neal Boortz and former GOP Congressman John Linder, co-authors of The FairTax Book and FairTax, The Truth.

Response to Petition

A Response to Your Petition About Neal Boortz Coming to the White House

Thanks for adding your name to a petition asking us to invite Neal Boortz to the White House to spend an hour talking with the President about tax reform.

We've taken your request seriously and while we appreciate the suggestion, we respectfully decline.

Before we get into why, let's take a quick step back and acknowledge something that we can all agree on:

Our tax system needs to be reformed.

President Obama has called for reform that would simplify our tax code, make it fairer by eliminating some of the largest tax loopholes, and reinvest the savings from doing so in measures that will grow the economy and expand opportunity. This plan would make working Americans' paychecks go further in covering the costs of child care, college, and a secure retirement -- and would create and improve tax credits that support and reward work.

We spent some time talking with folks in the National Economic Council about Mr. Boortz's proposal, and wanted to share what they reported back:

The fact is that Mr. Boortz's fair tax plan is actually pretty unfair -- and inconsistent with those goals for reforming our tax system.

George W. Bush's Treasury Department figured this out, too, when they considered and rejected it.

Mr. Boortz's "FairTax" would apply a national sales tax to virtually all expenses on goods and services that middle-class families purchase. At the same time, Boortz's plan would eliminate taxes that are disproportionately paid by high-income households like the estate tax.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has found that under the so-called FairTax, "tax burdens on middle-income households would surely rise while high-income families would get a big tax cut." And here's what President George W. Bush's bipartisan Advisory Panel on Tax Reform said it would do specifically:

  • Increase taxes on a typical, median-income family by nearly $5,000, or 36 percent.
  • Cut the share of Federal taxes paid by the top 1 percent of Americans by more than 40 percent.

That's not a fair way to reform our tax system.

All of this isn't to say that this Administration hasn't historically been open to hearing from a variety of Americans -- whether they agree or don't agree with the President. We're proud to say that this is the most open Administration in history, with visitors ranging from working Americans to global leaders coming through our doors every month. But they don't all get to meet with the President, whose time is a precious commodity in any event -- and especially so with 18 months left in this Administration.

Finally, the President and this Administration deeply value citizen engagement -- and we appreciate the fact that you've taken an active enough interest in reforming our tax code to petition us about it. That matters, and we hope you'll continue to take action on the policy issues you care about.

You can learn more about the President's tax plan here:

For more information about national sales taxes like the FairTax, here are a few additional resources:


Follow @WeThePeople on Twitter all day long for a series of Q+As with various Administration officials on the petition responses we released today.

Tell us what you think about this response and We the People.

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