By Congressman Blake Farentold
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON DC. Last week was Tax Week. We all had to file our taxes (or extensions) and in Congress the House passed several bills improving our Tax system and repealing the estate tax.
Quite frankly we should abolish our entire tax system and start over with a national sales tax instead of an income tax. I am a cosponsor of
H.R. 25 the Fair Tax Act which does just that. Alternatively I am also in favor of the flat tax where everyone pays a low flat percentage of their earnings with no lobbyist loophole deductions.
Until we can gain enough support for one of these innovative solutions Ill be working to make our existing tax system fairer flatter and simpler.
Currently
the tax code contains almost 4 million words. To comply with this complicated code the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that
U.S. taxpayers and business spend about 7.6 billion hours a year working on taxes.
Take this complexity add in political targeting by the IRS and it is clear that the taxing arm of the federal government has grown far too large and is out-of-control. I am actively working to find solutions that put more money back into the pockets of Americans and our communities rather than growing Washington.
This week the House took action and voted on a number of bills to hold the IRS accountable and limit government interference in order to help you achieve financial independence. The most important of which I believe is the repeal of the estate tax which is a duplicative tax that unfairly impacts family businesses and many of our farmers.
H.R.1105 the Death Tax Repeal Act would
eliminate the 40 tax imposed on families when they inherit assets from a passing family member if signed into law by President Obama.
Families should be able to pass on a business that has been built from the ground up without the government coming in and making a profit. By eliminating these taxes family businesses farms and ranches will be better able to stay in business and not have to be liquidated to pay yet another tax.
My Upcoming Veterans Town Hall Event
On May 5 I will be holding a Veterans Town Hall at the Economic Development Center at Del Mar College (The old Albertsons across from Ray High School at Staples and Kostorez). This event will allow for me to hear from veterans about the issues they are facing with the Veterans Affairs Administration (VA) and other Federal Agencies. I will also share what I am working on in Washington with respect to veterans issues.
At the event I will have my red-tape cutters on-hand to assist veterans in dealing with problems they are facing with the government. Unfortunately the vast majority of issues my red-tape cutters deal with involve the VA. It is a national disgrace our veterans have to come to their Congressman to get help with the VA. It is more evidence that the VA needs to get its act together and promptly deliver the care and benefits our veterans earned.
We can never do enough to thank our veterans for defending and protecting our freedoms both at home and abroad. I encourage you to check out upcoming newsletters as well as my social media pages to receive updates on the Veterans Town Hall event.
ThanksUSA Scholarships Now Available
From now until May 15 ThanksUSA a non-profit dedicated to giving back to our troops has begun
accepting applications for post-secondary education scholarships for the children and spouses of our Armed Forces members.
Now entering their 10
th year ThanksUSA has
raised more than $10 million resulting in almost 3400 scholarships. Texas alone has received 272 scholarships totaling almost $800 thousand. This year the organization hopes to hand out $1.5 million in scholarships to up to 500 military families.
I want to personally thank ThanksUSA for the work they do for our service members and their families. For more information I encourage you to check out their website at
www.ThanksUSA.org.
