Igniting America's Economy with Fairtax

Floor Speech

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Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, I am down here with some of my colleagues to talk about one thing, and one thing only in our time, and that is about igniting America's economy.

We can talk all we want to about putting people back to work; but nibbling around the edges of the American economy isn't going to solve the problem for the men and women in the Seventh District of Georgia, nor the men and women in the great State of Texas, nor the men and women in Alabama, or anywhere across this country.

What we need is a competitive advantage on the rest of the world. We have the most capable workforce on the planet. We have the hardest working workforce on the planet. We have the best infrastructure on the planet. We have the most freedom on the planet.

Why is it, Mr. Speaker, that we then would not have the most robust and growing economy on the planet? I tell you it is for one reason, and one reason only, and that is the burden of the American Tax Code on the American entrepreneur.

It is the burden of the American Tax Code on those men and women who want to make America great, who want to put people back to work, but who cannot do it because the Tax Code disadvantages them relative to the rest of the world.

Mr. Speaker, there is an idea in this Chamber--and you know it well-- it is called the FairTax, and it is H.R. 25. Anybody in America can look it up. It is at www.congress.gov.

In just over 100 pages, H.R. 25 describes how we could rip this United States Tax Code out by the roots and replace it--where we can rip this Code out by the roots and, rather than having the single worst Tax Code on the planet, have the single best Tax Code on the planet. It describes how we could rip it out by the roots and, rather than punishing people for how productive they are, begin to tax people based on how much they take out of the economy, a consumption tax. That is the way our Framers founded this country, and that is the way we could fund this country again.

Mr. Speaker, right now is the time. With the economic challenges, the headwinds blowing against America as they are today, right now is the time. I do not want to compete with the rest of the world based on low wages. I do not want to compete with the rest of the world based on unsafe workplaces. I do not want to compete with the rest of the world based on whose air is dirtier or whose water is unsafe.

I want high wages. I want safe workplaces. I want clean water, and I want clean air. But I do want to compete with the rest of the world based on whose Tax Code makes the most sense.

Mr. Speaker, I was elected in 2010, just 5\1/2\ short years ago. One of the Members in that freshman class with me was Mo Brooks from northern Alabama. He's down here on the floor tonight. When I got ready to introduce the FairTax in that Congress, Mo was one of the first folks out of the box to say, Rob, we can make a difference, we can make a difference for the country, and we can make a difference for individual families; put me down as a sponsor of the FairTax.

I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Brooks).

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Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman had me at more jobs and higher wages for workers. You had me there.

One of the things we don't ever talk about is the snooping that you describe. Now, ``snooping'' is a powerful word. As you were talking about that, it dawned on me that the Federal Government knows more about my finances than any member of my family. Think about that. The Federal Government knows more about me and my finances than I am willing to tell any member of my family.

When I think about freedom in this country, when I think about what the government needs to do to keep us safe, to keep the economy growing, I don't think about that degree of invasiveness as being necessary today.

I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Brooks).

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Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, I have appreciated the gentleman's friendship and his leadership since he and I arrived here together just two terms ago.

While the gentleman from Alabama was speaking, I put up a poster that has a postmark that reads April 15. You were talking about what it means to make March and April less intimidating, less frightening. He talked about coercion and intimidation.

I would wager there is not a single American citizen age 16 or older--anyone who has ever held a job and had a paycheck--that when I put up a postmark of April 15 they don't know exactly what that means. That means that is the day the tax man is going to come calling.

I am going to do the very best I can to get it right. But if I don't because it is too complex and I just can't figure it all out, the Federal Government and criminal enforcement are going to come calling. It is a frightening day for folks to do a civic responsibility, and that's to help keep the government open.

If I had to choose a region of the country that led as aggressively as Alabama leads, as Georgia leads, it would have to be the great State of Texas. We are joined tonight by the chairman from the great State of Texas, Mr. Conaway.

I believe, if I went back and counted all the cosponsors of the FairTax, the FairTax is the single most widely cosponsored tax reform bill in the entire United States House of Representatives. I believe we have more cosponsors from the State of Texas than any other State in the Nation. Of course, Texas has abolished their income tax and is governed by a consumption tax.

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Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Chairman, your leadership has been invaluable on this, not just because of the people you represent, but because of your background as a CPA. The American people know instinctively there is a better way to do it, and to have it from someone who spent a lifetime in that space, we really can move on. I laughed at your story about getting thumped in the chest.

We have been joined by Jody Hice from the great State of Georgia. In our district, folks thump you in the chest and say, you better put your name on the FairTax. In fact, Congressman Hice has constituents out in the hallway right now but cared enough about the FairTax to come down just for a moment. I appreciate him doing that. I am happy to yield to him.

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Mr. WOODALL. I thank the gentleman. He is a new, first-term Member here, and he is already leading on all of these issues, and I am grateful to him for that. He has got his ear to the pulse of what folks want back home, and what folks want is more freedom and more economic opportunity. I am so grateful to him.

If I can ask the chairman: Trained as a CPA as you are, what is the benefit of the Tax Code? Everybody in this Chamber, from the far left to the far right, every Republican, every Democrat, everybody wants a better job environment. They want growth in the economy. They want the American people to succeed and be prosperous. What is in it for America to keep what we have today?

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Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Chairman, I am glad you mentioned that scam. I am going to find the camera that is focused down here and tell folks, if you get a call from the IRS, it is not legitimate. Do not deal with somebody at the end of a 1-800 number who says there is an arrest warrant out for you. If you don't have any other option, call your Congressman, and we will intervene for you in that space. It is hundreds of millions of dollars that have been scammed from American citizens, Mr. Chairman, through this scheme.

The scheme works for one reason and one reason only, and that is that the IRS really is that scary to the average American citizen, and we created it. It is our creation, and we are complicit in this scam. Please, it is happening to your parents, your grandparents. I get those calls, too. I am in constituents' homes. The calls are coming in then, and not everyone knows it is a scam. Folks are so frightened by the IRS, they are paying these folks hundreds of millions of dollars today.

I appreciate you mentioning that.

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Mr. WOODALL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We have got down here with us what I would say is a gentleman who is second to none in terms of FairTax support. He is Steve King, from the great State of Iowa. Even before I was elected to Congress, I could turn on C-SPAN, and when folks wanted to talk about tax reform, I would see Steve King down here talking about a better way to do a Tax Code. I would hear him talking about, from his own personal experience, what it was like to be targeted by an agency like this and what it would mean, as a small-business owner himself, to be free of that burden and be able to go out and hire. I have always been grateful for his friendship since he has arrived, and I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from Iowa tonight.

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Mr. WOODALL. For folks who aren't following those numbers as closely as you are, yes, when this Tax Code was written in 1986, the average corporate income tax rate around the globe was almost 50 percent. Today, it is less than 25 percent. The rest of the world has been moving towards that tax competitiveness, while America has been standing still.

You asked about the good things that happen around here. Generally, the good things that happen are because folks come with individual experience, as you have come with; they come with passion, as you have come with.

What folks may not realize is here you are. The family runs King Construction, and you are not asking for a tax cut. You are not asking for a tax carveout. You are not asking for a special favor or an exemption or a deduction. You are saying do away with all the special interests in the Tax Code, and let's just give everybody a fair shot at a flat and level code. It is that kind of selflessness that is going to drive the changes that have to happen here. Yes, there are special interests that are committed to selfish preservation of provisions in the Tax Code. I think selflessness is going to win out in that debate.

We are joined on the floor by a new Member from the great State of Georgia. His name is Buddy Carter. He represents the single fastest growing container port on the entire planet.

What I am saying to you is, when it comes to creating jobs in America, we have got to export to a billion new consumers in India and a billion new consumers in China, and we are not competitive with our Tax Code today.

The gentleman from Georgia sees this day in and day out, going out of the great Port of Savannah. In fact, I am told--the gentleman can correct me if I am wrong--out of your automobile exporting plant, we now export more Mercedes to the rest of the globe than any other vehicle out of that American port, because we are building Mercedes- Benz better and cheaper than the rest of the globe, and the rest of the world wants to buy them.

I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

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Mr. WOODALL. I thank the gentleman for making the FairTax number one out of the gate. I know he leads a passionate constituency.

I listened to you talk about what the FairTax would do, and I am thinking that is almost unbelievable that there is that much out there on the table we could seize for the American economy and American families that we haven't done.

I am reminded that America is the only country in the OECD, the only economically developed First World country that does not have a consumption tax today. Folks around America are accustomed to all of the downsides of our current system that you went through. There is a better way and the rest of the world has found it and we are lagging behind.

I appreciate the gentleman's leadership to help get us there.

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Mr. WOODALL. We also have on the floor the chairman of the House Budget Committee. Now, I will tell you that if there is someone who is working harder for the American economy than Dr. Tom Price, chairman of the Budget Committee, I don't know who it is. And he is absolutely trying to cut every penny of waste, fraud, and abuse there is in the budget, but I don't know that we can cut our way into prosperity. I think we are going to have to grow our way into prosperity, and this burdensome Tax Code seems to be standing between us and that kind of success.

I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

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Mr. WOODALL. If I could say to my friend, a lot of folks believe that this town is just about talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Yet you, in your budget that you have prepared, moved out of the Budget Committee, put down in writing, black and white, put your name behind it for all the world to see, every cycle, that there is a better way and we can do better.

Folks are afraid to take a stand on issues. You have been unafraid to take a stand. We cannot get from here to there without that kind of leadership, and I am grateful to you for that.

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Mr. WOODALL. I thank my friend. And I would encourage folks, if you have any--if you want the black and white on this issue, go back to the Joint Tax Committee Tax Symposium. The Joint Tax Committee invited in everyone from the far-right economists to the far-left economists and said, Take a look at America's Tax Code and take a look at a consumption tax like the FairTax and tell me what it would do for the American economy, for families, for jobs.

Every single economist--not some, not most, every single economist-- said a consumption tax, a move away from our current tax system will grow the American economy. Some said a little, some said a lot.

But we can do better. There is not a single Member of this Chamber who defends the current Tax Code as being the best we can do. It is not. The FairTax just may be the best we can do.

If you are not quite ready for the FairTax--and I hope you are; it is H.R. 25--let me refer to the Better Way agenda. The chairman mentioned it earlier. It is on the Speaker's Web site, betterway.speaker.gov. It is on better.gop as well.

The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee laid out a fundamental change in the way we do taxes. It is the most consumption tax-based plan a Ways and Means chairman has ever produced for this institution. It is not the FairTax, but dadgummit, it is moving us in the right direction.

If you want some encouragement about what is doable, about what we are able to bring ourselves together around, about what can really, Mr. Speaker, make a difference for jobs and the economy, look at what Chairman Kevin Brady from Texas has done. Again, it is a part of the House's Better Way agenda, but it is laid out there in black and white.

What my challenge is, not just for Members of this Chamber, Mr. Speaker, but for all voters across the country is the chairman has laid out a plan that gets rid of the exemptions, the deductions, the carve- outs, all of the lobbyist special favors. All of that is gone, but it is up to us to keep it gone. Take a look at it, believe in it, and then let's work together to make it a reality.

The only people who are disadvantaged by a change to a competitive Tax Code are our foreign competitors overseas. This isn't about Republicans. This isn't about Democrats. This is about America. This is about growth, and there absolutely is a better way.

Mr. Speaker, I thank all of my colleagues for their leadership and for joining me here.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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