Putting Lipstick On A Pig: “Fair Tax” By Any Other Name Is Still “Fair Tax”

Proponents of the so-called “Fair Tax” ballot proposals (there are nine such proposed initiatives and counting) think they can slap a makeover on this homely wallflower by calling it something else. They have tried to call it the “Missouri Jobs and Prosperity Act,” but that is laughable on its face because the so-called ‘Fair Tax” would cost Missouri both jobs and prosperity, as respected analyst and former John Ashcroft Commissioner of Administration Jim Moody showed in devastating detail.

Make no mistake – the backers of this ill-conceived attempt to place new sales tax burdens on low- and middle-income Missourians know they are stuck with the so-called “Fair Tax” when all the makeup is washed away by the tears of real Missourians. A national advocate for the so-called “Fair Tax” conceded as much in a blog posting on August 25, 2010, making a hasty correction to his report on the Missouri effort which he referred to throughout as the “Fair Tax”:

Erratum: Its Really the Missouri Jobs and Prosperity Act

In my e-mail from yesterday I referred to the constitutional initiative in Missouri erroneously as the Missouri FairTax, or the Fair Taxation, Constitutional Amendment. The measure indeed was inspired by the FairTax, but it actually has a different name because we state initiatives to be distinct from our federal legislation. The correct name of the Missouri measure is the Missouri Jobs and Prosperity Act. Regrets for the confusion.

~Jim

A stinker by any other name is still a stinker.