The Fair Tax Act
I believe that the American tax code is without question in serious need of reform. In 1913, the Tax Code was a mere 500 pages in length. Today, the code and regulations total more than 60,000 pages. Four common forms, form 1040 and schedules A, B and D, take an estimated 28 hours and 30 minutes to prepare. A mere two decades ago when the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) first started tracking this information, the average paperwork burden was 17 hours and 7 minutes, about 11 hours less. It costs U.S. taxpayers and businesses more than $100 billion annually - this is roughly equivalent to what we spend to run the Departments of Education, Homeland Security, and State - to unravel our tax code's complexity. That is $1 billion that American business cannot use to create new jobs; and American families cannot use to pay their home heating bills or their kid's college tuition or to buy prescription medications.

A simpler, fairer, and more efficient tax code would benefit every American, every family, and every business. That is why I have long supported tax reform in my tenure in the U.S. Congress, and I will continue to fight for reform. In fact, I am a proud cosponsor of "The Fair Tax Act of 2007" (H.R. 25), sponsored by Representative John Linder of Georgia. H.R. 25 would eliminate the Internal Revenue Service, repeal the Income tax, repeal estate and gift taxes, repeal the employment taxes, and establish a fixed rate of taxation based on consumption. Currently, H.R. 25 is currently pending before the House Committee on Ways and Means. Although I do not sit on the Committee on Ways and Means, I have discussed my support for this bill with my colleagues who do; and I am watching their deliberations on the bill as closely as possible.