Graves: Solution to Scandals, Dismantle IRS

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Rep Tom Graves (R-GA-14) says the solution to the IRS Scandal is to dismantle the agency.On Monday, Graves grilled new IRS Acting Commissioner Daniel Werfel and Inspector General J. Russell George on the IRS targeting conservative groups based on political beliefs, one of three deepening scandals plaguing the White House. During the congressional hearing this week, Graves asked Werfel and George who ordered IRS employees to target political groups and who in the Obama Administration has so far been held accountable.

“The new acting commissioner confirmed that there has been little accountability and that Lois Lerner is still getting paid. It’s an insult to taxpayers,”

Graves said in a statement following the hearing.

“Mr. Werfel needs to clean house. Firing employees doesn’t stop investigators from extracting information about the scandal—it simply means we don’t have to pay the people responsible while we’re waiting for the truth. I was also disturbed by the inspector general’s testimony that IRS employees in Cincinnati refused to say who gave the orders to target conservative groups. It seems clear that there were orders from higher up, and the Administration’s initial story that it was just a few rogue employees continues to fall apart with each congressional hearing.”

In an interview with Greta Van Susteren Monday night, the congressman said little has changed since the scandal has surfaced. The ultimate solution, he said, is tax reform that dismantles the IRS and empowers taxpayers, recommending replacing the current tax code with a flat tax system. Freshman Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) joins Graves in the flat-tax crusade.

Appearing on Foxnews this weekend, Cruz sided with Graves.

“We ought to abolish the IRS and instead move to a simple flat tax,”

he said.

“Put down how much you earn, put down a deduction for charitable contributions, for home mortgage and how much you owe…It ought to be just a simple, one page postcard.”

He added that we need to take the agents and bureaucracy out of Washington and limit the power of government.

“(The IRS Scandal is) a manifestation of too much power in the federal government,”

he said.

Testifying before Congress on Monday, Wetumpka Alabama Tea Party President Becky Garrison said her group was not affiliated with a political party and only expressed that their representative government failed them.

“In Wetumpka, we are patriotic Americans;”

she during the hearing, as reported by Fox news,

“we peacefully assemble; we petition our government; we exercise our right to free speech. We don’t understand why the government tried to stop us. I’m not here as a serf or a vassal. I’m not begging my lord for mercy. I’m a born-free American woman, wife, mother, and citizen, and I’m telling my government that you’ve forgotten your place.”

In the wake of the scandal, Fair Tax has gained momentum. Former Presidential Candidate and Radio Host Herman Cain is urging voters to call their congressman and senators to support the Fair Tax system, advocating Cain’s 999 Plan. Additionally, other champions of a consumption tax system have been making the rounds more diligently since the beginning of the year. In April Georgia for Fair Tax Representative Stephen Hall Jr. came to Pickens County, presenting a case for the Fair Tax Act as a replacement to the current tax code. Hall reminded the audience the current tax code is approximately 72,000 pages long, while the Fair Tax Act is 97 pages long, front and back.

Also, on March 28th, as the state legislature came to a close, Representative Tom Kirby (R- Loganville) announced that he will introduce the Georgia Fair Taxation Act of 2014, which will be brought to the floor next session. The legislation will remove the state income tax.

“By removing the income tax,”

Kirby said,

“we can increase the number of tax payers and reduce the amount everyone pays,”

adding,

“The public is ready for serious tax reform and bold solutions to solve our economic problems.”

Nine states currently do not have an income tax, including Tennessee and Florida.

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