Monday, October 13, 2008

Congressman Ciro Rodriguez Should Be Ashamed

Here in the wonderful city of San Antonio it's election season just as it is around the country. The 23rd Congressional District's current Congressman, Ciro Rodriguez, is running for re-election against former Bexar County Commisioner Lyle Larson. It's expected during a political campaign that the truth will suffer; however, the depths Congressman Rodriguez has sunk to is completely disgusting. Congressman Rodriguez should be very ashamed.

In television ads by the Democratic Committee on his behalf and in ads placed by his campaign a claim is made that the Congressman's opponent supports a 23% sales tax added to everything. The ads make it sound as though the sales tax would be added to everything and would be paid in addition to current taxes. The ads make the charge that Lyle Larson is for higher taxes and cite Larson's own website Issues Page. The ads are lies. It's very clear if you read Larson's page that he is against raising taxes and is an advocate of the Fair Tax.

Essentially, the Fair Tax is a national sales tax that REPLACES income tax. Hmm, a 23% sales tax instead of 28% and higher income tax. How is that a tax hike? It's not. Ciro Rodriguez should be ashamed of telling such lies and misleading the public.

By the way, I don't live in the 23rd Congressional District and cannot vote for either Rodriquez or Larson. I just don't like the lies.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the kind of politics we always end up with when people vote based on TV ads, talking heads, and popularity contests. I've never voted that way.

For the past four Presidential elections (my entire adult life), I've voted for the Libertarian candidates. I can honestly say I'm not responsible for the mess we're in now. I'll definitely be doing it again this November.

Bob Barr and Wayne Allen Root.

Ben said...

Thanks for the comment. Voting based on TV ads is a very poor way to pick a candidate. People really should look for more information outside the mainstream press.

Ben said...

I must apologize to David P. who took the time to write a comment. Unfortunately, the post had something wrong with it, no fault of David's, and could not be published.

David did point out that comparing the Fair Tax rate of 23% to the 28% income tax was like comparing apples to oranges. He's right about that. The tax issues facing this country are far more complex than I'm willing to write about on this blog. He also pointed out that the sales tax rate would be about 30% when you combine national and state (Texas) sales taxes. Also true. However, as a business owner (sole proprietor) I've run some calculations and believe that I'd rather have the Fair Tax instead of our current system.

Finally, David called me out on violating my own policy against name calling. Wrong. I never said that Ciro Rodriguez was a LIAR. I said "Ciro Rodriguez should be ashamed of telling such lies and misleading the public." It's a fine line I know. So how about this...I won't say he lied...instead I'll say "He intentionally misstated facts in an effort to mislead the public for his own benefit." Better?

Anonymous said...

The way I see it, the power to tax income is absolute and you know what they say about absolute power. There is no place for it in a democratic republic and, indeed, it's very presence threatens to end our great republic. The founding fathers gave us the right to bare arms in part to keep government in check. But seriously, who's going to take up arms against the government now? We, the people, no longer have any effective means of keeping our government in check and that's why it has run out of control, trampling over our rights and the Constitution in the process.

Income taxes are the root of the problem. They give governments absolute power over our lives. Our elected representatives have no incentives to respect our needs or to protect our rights once they've been elected. As long as we keep paying, they won't throw us in prison. They openly assaulting our rights every day under the guise of protection or assistance. They're diligent in giving themselves annual pay raises while public opinion lingers around 13%. What does that tell you? It's all BS! The only thing income taxes do is provide Congress with a guaranteed and predictable flow of revenue which it then uses as collateral to borrow unimaginable sums of money from the Fed to support it's massive global empire. And they expect our grand children and great grand children to pay for all this.

The fair tax would turn this three ring circus around over night. It's not just a better tax system, I believe it is a critical piece of the legislative process that's been missing for the last ninety five years- since the 16th Amendment was passed. Even if it costs me an extra 23% (which it won't), I'm sold!