Long co-sponsor H.R. 25; Good job, Bill Phelps!

Bill Phelps ought to be mighty glad that Congressman "Just call me Billy" Long skipped the reading of the U.S. Constitution on the floor of the House of Representatives on opening day of the session and made the decision to visit with Phelps instead.

Frequent bus riders will remember reading this post and this earlier post where we questioned where Long was during the reading.

We now know, by virtue of Billy's self admission on Twitter, that Long was visiting with Fair Tax Lobbyist Bill Phelps.

Now, comes this news that Congressman Billy Long is one of the sponsors of H.R. 25-- the fair tax bill.

Looks like Phelps'lobbying Long has paid of for him and his cronies because (and this is from the American Independent Party website)

On Wednesday, January 5, 2011, Congressman Rob Woodall (GA-07) introduced H.R. 25, the FairTax. The FairTax legislation eliminates the current income tax paradigm and replaces it with a system of taxation based on consumption. The bill was introduced on Wednesday with 47 original co-sponsors—the most original co-sponsors the bill has ever had for its initial introduction.

Replace the income tax with a system of taxation based on consumption. That's a national sales tax.

Billy's a big man. I'm a big man, too. I'll bet that Billy and I can match each other bite for bite in our consumption of edibles. (I won't contest him in a drinking contest because he likes scotch and I don't-- so he wins that by default.)

Comparing our grocery bills, I'll wager that Billy and I buy and eat the same amount of food. Billy may have a bit of an advantage over me in this wager because he's a gambling man and knows about point spread and fading and all the other gambling talk and I don't

Anyhow, I'm saying that our grocery bills would be about the same based on the amount of food we buy and consume. He may buy more scotch than I but I probably buy more beer than him. So, all this equalized, we probably spent the same amount of money on consumables.

Where am I going with this? Billy's salary, as our representative in congress, is in excess of $174,000.00 a year -- that is public record. I'm on pension and while I'm not going to share my pension information (it's in the low five figures) with you bus riders, you can be dang tootin' it ain't nowhere near $174,000.00 a year.

So, for the sake of arguement, let's say I get a yearly check of $17,400.00 a year. Billy gets a yearly check of $174,000.00 a year.

Billy and I both eat the same amount of food we purchase at the grocery store, let's say we both spend $1,740.00 a year on food and beverage from the grocery store.

Billy makes $174,000.00 a year and spends $1,740.00 a year on consumables. You still with me? That's about 1% of his income.

Your friendly bus driver makes $17,400.00 a year and spends $1,740.00 (the same amount as Billy) on consumables. That's about 10% of his income.

Billy pays a 'fair tax' on $1,740, the bus driver pays a 'fair tax' on $1,740. Who pays more tax?

What's fair about that?

MMmmm, it smells like a rose! (Don't worry, it's just a little prick.)