Oklahomans for Energy Independence

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Comment by James Tracy on October 26, 2008 at 8:58pm

please look at my page, add me as a friend, thanks

Comment by Mike Anthony Fernald Sr. on October 23, 2008 at 11:15am

Comment by Mike Anthony Fernald Sr. on October 23, 2008 at 9:54am

An Open Letter to the President, the Congress, and the American people
Concerning Reform of the Federal Tax Code
Dear Mr. President, Members of Congress, and Fellow Americans,
We, the undersigned business and university economists, welcome and applaud the ongoing
initiative to reform the federal tax code. We urge the President and the Congress to work
together in good faith to pass and sign into federal law H.R. 25 and S. 25, which together call
for:
• Eliminating all federal income taxes for individuals and corporations,
• Eliminating all federal payroll withholding taxes,
• Abolishing estate and capital gains taxes, and
• Repealing the 16th Amendment
We are not calling for elimination of federal taxation, which would be irresponsible and
undesirable. Nor does our endorsement call for reduced federal spending. The tax reform plan
we endorse is revenue neutral, collecting as much federal tax revenue as the current income tax
code, including payroll withholding taxes.
We are calling for elimination of federal income taxes and federal payroll withholding taxes.
We endorse replacing these costly, oppressively complex, and economically inefficient taxes
with a progressive national retail sales tax, such as the tax plan offered by H.R. 25 and S. 25 –
which is also known as the FairTax Plan. The FairTax Plan has been introduced in the 109th
Congress and had 54 co-sponsors in the 108th Congress.
If passed and signed into law, the FairTax Plan would:
• Enable workers and retirees to receive 100% of their paychecks and pension benefits,
• Replace all federal income and payroll taxes with a simple, progressive, visible,
efficiently collected national retail sales tax, which would be levied on the final sale of
newly produced goods and services,
• Rebate to all households each month the federal sales tax they pay on basic necessities,
up to an independently determined level of spending (a.k.a., the poverty level, as
determined by the Department of Health and Human Services), which removes the
burden of federal taxation on the poor and makes the FairTax Plan as progressive as the
current tax code,
• Collect the national sales tax at the retail cash register, just as 45 states already do,
• Set a federal sales tax rate that is revenue neutral, thereby raising the same amount of tax
revenue as now raised by federal income taxes plus payroll withholding taxes,
• Continue Social Security and Medicare benefits as provided by law; only the means of
tax collection changes,
• Eliminate all filing of individual federal tax returns,
• Eliminate the IRS and all audits of individual taxpayers; only audits of retailers would be
needed, greatly reducing the cost of enforcing the federal tax code,
An Open Letter to the President, the Congress, and the American people
-2-
• Allow states the option of collecting the national retail sales tax, in return for a fee, along
with their state and local sales taxes,
• Collect federal sales tax from every retail consumer in the country, whether citizen or
undocumented alien, which will enlarge the federal tax base,
• Collect federal sales tax on all consumption spending on new final goods and services,
whether the dollars used to finance the spending are generated legally, illegally, or in the
huge “underground economy,”
• Dramatically reduce federal tax compliance costs paid by businesses, which are now
embedded and hidden in retail prices, placing U.S. businesses at a disadvantage in world
markets,
• Bring greater accountability and visibility to federal tax collection,
• Attract foreign equity investment to the United States, as well as encourage U.S. firms to
locate new capital projects in the United States that might otherwise go abroad, and
• Not tax spending for education, since H.R. 25 and S. 25 define expenditure on education
to be investment, not consumption, which will make education about half as expensive
for American families as it is now.
The current U.S. income tax code is widely regarded by just about everyone as unfair,
complex, wasteful, confusing, and costly. Businesses and other organizations spend more than
six billion hours each year complying with the federal tax code. Estimated compliance costs
conservatively top $225 billion annually – costs that are ultimately embedded in retail prices paid
by consumers.
The Internal Revenue Code cannot simply be “fixed,” which is amply demonstrated by more
than 35 years of attempted tax code reform, each round resulting in yet more complexity and
unrelenting, page-after-page, mind-numbing verbiage (now exceeding 54,000 pages containing
more than 2.8 million words).
Our nation’s current income tax alters business decisions in ways that limit growth in
productivity. The federal income tax also alters saving and investment decisions of households,
which dramatically reduces the economy’s potential for growth and job creation.
Payroll withholding taxes are regressive, hitting hardest those least able to pay. Simply
stated, the complexity and frequently changing rules of the federal income tax code make our
country less competitive in the global economy and rob the nation of its full potential for growth
and job creation.
In summary, the economic benefits of the FairTax Plan are compelling. The FairTax Plan
eliminates the tax bias against work, saving, and investment, which would lead to higher rates of
economic growth, faster growth in productivity, more jobs, lower interest rates, and a higher
standard of living for the American people.
An Open Letter to the President, the Congress, and the American people
-3-
The America proposed by the FairTax Plan would feature:
• no federal income taxes,
• no payroll taxes,
• no self-employment taxes,
• no capital gains taxes,
• no gift or estate taxes,
• no alternative minimum taxes,
• no corporate taxes,
• no payroll withholding,
• no taxes on Social Security benefits or pension benefits,
• no personal tax forms,
• no personal or business income tax record keeping, and
• no personal income tax filing whatsoever.
No Internal Revenue Service; no April 15th; all gone, forever.
We believe that many Americans will favor the FairTax Plan proposed by H.R. 25 and S. 25,
although some may say, “it simply can’t be done.” Many said the same thing to the grassroots
progressives who won women the right to vote, to those who made collective bargaining a reality
for union members, and to the Freedom Riders who made civil rights a reality in America.
We urge Congress not to abandon the FairTax Plan simply because it will be difficult to face
the objections of entrenched special interest groups – groups who now benefit from the
complexity and tax preferences of the status quo. The comparative advantage and benefits
offered by the FairTax Plan to the vast majority of Americans is simply too high a cost to pay.
Therefore, we the undersigned professional and university economists, endorse a progressive
national retail sales tax plan, as provided by the FairTax Plan. We urge Congress to make H.R.
25 and S. 25 federal law, and then to work swiftly to repeal the 16th Amendment.
Respectfully,
Donald L. Alexander
Professor of Economics
Western Michigan University
Wayne Angell
Angell Economics
Jim Araji
Professor of Agricultural
Economics
University of Idaho
Ray Ball
Graduate School of Business
University of Chicago
Roger J. Beck
Professor Emeritus
Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale
John J. Bethune
Kennedy Chair of Free
Enterprise
Barton College
David M. Brasington
Louisiana State University
Jack A. Chambless
Professor of Economics
Valencia College
Christopher K. Coombs
Louisiana State University
William J. Corcoran, Ph.D.
University of Nebraska at
Omaha
Eleanor D. Craig
Economics Department
University of Delaware
An Open Letter to the President, the Congress, and the American people
-4-
Susan Dadres, Ph.D.
Department of Economics
Southern Methodist University
Henry Demmert
Santa Clara University
Arthur De Vany
Professor Emeritus
Economics and Mathematical
Behavioral Sciences
University of California, Irvine
Pradeep Dubey
Leading Professor
Center for Game Theory
Dept. of Economics
SUNY at Stony Brook
Demissew Diro Ejara
William Paterson University of
New Jersey
Patricia J. Euzent
Department of Economics
University of Central Florida
John A. Flanders
Professor of Business and
Economics
Central Methodist University
Richard H. Fosberg, Ph.D.
William Paterson University
Gary L. French, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President
Nathan Associates Inc.
Professor James Frew
Economics Department
Willamette University
K. K. Fung
University of Memphis
Satya J. Gabriel, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics and
Finance
Mount Holyoke College
Dave Garthoff
Summit College
The University of Akron
Ronald D. Gilbert
Associate Professor of
Economics
Texas Tech University
Philip E. Graves
Department of Economics
University of Colorado
Bettina Bien Greaves, Retired
Foundation for Economic
Education
John Greenhut, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Finance & Business Economics
School of Global Management
and Leadership
Arizona State University
Darrin V. Gulla
Dept. of Economics
University of Georgia
Jon Halvorson
Assistant Professor of
Economics
Indiana University of
Pennsylvania
Reza G. Hamzaee, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics &
Applied Decision Sciences
Department of Economics
Missouri Western State College
James M. Hvidding
Professor of Economics
Kutztown University
F. Jerry Ingram, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics and
Finance
The University of Louisiana-
Monroe
Drew Johnson
Fellow
Davenport Institute for Public
Policy
Pepperdine University
Steven J. Jordan
Visiting Assistant Professor
Virginia Tech
Department of Economics
Richard E. Just
University of Maryland
Dr. Michael S. Kaylen
Associate Professor
University of Missouri
David L. Kendall
Professor of Economics and
Finance
University of Virginia's College
at Wise
Peter M. Kerr
Professor of Economics
Southeast Missouri State
University
Miles Spencer Kimball
Professor of Economics
University of Michigan
James V. Koch
Department of Economics
Old Dominion University
Laurence J. Kotlikoff
Professor of Economics
Boston University
Edward J. López
Assistant Professor
University of North Texas
Franklin Lopez
Tulane University
Salvador Lopez
University of West Georgia
Yuri N. Maltsev, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
Carthage College
Glenn MacDonald
John M. Olin Distinguished
Professor of Economics and
Strategy
Washington University in St.
Louis
Dr. John Merrifield,
Professor of Economics
University of Texas-San
Antonio
An Open Letter to the President, the Congress, and the American people
-5-
Dr. Matt Metzgar
Mount Union College
Carlisle Moody
Department of Economics
College of William and Mary
Andrew P. Morriss
Galen J. Roush Professor of
Business Law & Regulation
Case Western Reserve
University School of Law
Timothy Perri
Department of Economics
Appalachian State University
Mark J. Perry
School of Management and
Department of Economics
University of Michigan-Flint
Timothy Peterson
Assistant Professor
Economics and Management
Department
Gustavus Adolphus College
Ben Pierce
Central Missouri State
University
Michael K. Pippenger, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of
Economics
University of Alaska
Robert Piron
Professor of Economics
Oberlin College
Mattias Polborn
Department of Economics
University of Illinois
Joseph S. Pomykala, Ph.D.
Department of Economics
Towson University
Barry Popkin
University of North Carolina-
Chapel Hill
Steven W. Rick
Lecturer, University of
Wisconsin
Senior Economist, Credit Union
National Association
Paul H. Rubin
Samuel Candler Dobbs
Professor of Economics & Law
Department of Economics
Emory Univeristy
John Ruggiero
University of Dayton
Michael K. Salemi
Bowman and Gordon Gray
Professor of Economics
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
Dr. Carole E. Scott
Richards College of Business
State University of West
Georgia
Carlos Seiglie
Dept. of Economics
Rutgers University
John Semmens
Economist
Phoenix College
Arizona
Alan C. Shapiro
Ivadelle and Theodore Johnson
Professor of Banking and
Finance
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern
California
Dr. Stephen Shmanske
Professor of Economics
California State University,
Hayward
James F. Smith
University of North Carolina-
Chapel Hill
Vernon L. Smith
Economist
W. James Smith
Dean of Liberal Arts and
Sciences and Professor of
Economics
University of Colorado at
Denver
John C. Soper
Boler School of Business
John Carroll University
Roger Spencer
Professor of Economics
Trinity University
Daniel A. Sumner, Director,
University of California
Agricultural Issues Center
and the Frank H. Buck, Jr.,
Chair Professor,
Department of Agricultural and
Resource Economics,
University of California, Davis
Curtis R. Taylor
Professor of Economics and
Business
Duke University
Robert Vigil
Analysis Group, Inc.
John H. Wicks, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Economics
University of Montana
F. Scott Wilson, Ph.D.
Canisius College
Mokhlis Y. Zaki
Professor of Economics
Emeritus
Northern Michigan Universit

Comment by Gregory L. Smith on October 6, 2008 at 10:46pm

One thing that I believe Oklahoma will see very soon is an effort to get home filling stations for CNG gas installed on home supply lines. This way, the number of CNG/LP fill up stations will not be such a factor. I believe that the CNG car manufacturer should offer a special offering through the Picken's Plan for a reduced expense to install one of these devices near or inside their garage or carport area when they sell a vehicle with CNG capabilities. In this way, the need for more stations could be given sufficient time to naturally (business-wise) increase and come about, as the convenience factor becomes greater, once hundreds of CNG cars are on the roads. In this way, Boone can help and he can get some income into Oklahoma institutions, instead of into foreign oil hands. It also would increase the number of potential flex fuel systems installed into new cars, which will significantly impact CO2 levels and reduce greenhouse gases emitted by gasoline engines and diesel systems. This is a practical process that the PP system can seek to address immediately, since Boone owns the company that makes station rapid fill systems and can also make a home delivery system, that is significantly less in cost to the home owner.
Gregor Smith gregors@att.net
With partnerships, there is value and strength of Brand....

Comment by Mike Anthony Fernald Sr. on October 6, 2008 at 2:02am

Did you know we have 13 Trillion Dollars sitting in offshore accounts just waiting for the right smart people to access. All we need to do is implement the Fair Tax and bring those Funds back into the American Economy.

Please go to www.fairtax.org and see what you can do about this.

Please Keep me in the Loop!
Im with you 100% anything I can do in my power just call on me.

Mike Anthony

Comment by Zachary C. Fitter on September 25, 2008 at 7:41pm

I love Pickens' plan, and I love that he has donated millions to Oklahoma State, but since he was born and raised in Oklahoma, I wish T. Boone promoted his home state more. I really wish he would have chosen western Oklahoma instead of Sweetwater for his wind farm, and I wish he maintained his main residence in Oklahoma instead of Dallas. Come on T. Boone! Oklahoma could use the investment. Oklahoma needs you to help promote its image, and to let the world know how many talented people hail from the Sooner State!

Comment by Bob Rader on September 11, 2008 at 7:08pm

A group of Oklahoman's are leaving for Washington Sunday to meet with our congressional delegation for two days. We will also get a White House briefing. Its through though our State Chamber.
Any suggestions?

Bob

Comment by Geoff Bailey on September 8, 2008 at 1:50pm

Hello!

My name is Geoffrey Bailey and I am the Pickens Plan regional campaign manager for the great states of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. My job is to provide members of the Army with resources, ideas and support in the pursuit of American Energy Independence.

Please feel free to send me a message with any questions, comments or suggestions! Thank you so much for supporting the Pickens Plan and I look forward to working with you in the coming months to make America independent of foreign oil.

Geoff

Comment by Tonye Banks on September 4, 2008 at 4:23pm

Just wanted to say hello :)
I was wondering if there was anyone in the southeastern Oklahoma area (near McAlester area) that would be willing to get something rolling in our area? I wouldn't have a clue about how to go about any of this, just wondering if maybe someone else might..because I would love to be involved in our area and help as much as possible

Comment by Keith Sanderson President/Co Founder USA Energy Independence dot com on August 28, 2008 at 10:15am

Now Would you believe Stossel wonders why people are angry because he said USA Energy Independence is Idiocy

Mr. Stossel, It's not your argument that angered people.
What angered people is suggesting that USA Energy Independence is idiocy.Most rational people aren't angered over a debate. They are angered over the implication that what they believe is idiotic.

I suggest that you look up the stats of the 70s regarding what happened when the oil flow to the United States was reduced. For starters gasoline prices quadrupled, interest rates rose to as high as 18 percent, and we saw double digit inflation.

Today a similar situation could mean $16.00 a gallon gasoline.

High priced gasoline like that would ruin me and my family and most other families. It would probably even put a crimp in your TV ratings.
.
Back in the 70's we only imported about 30 percent of our oil needs. Today we import about 67 percent. Close to half of what we import comes from parts of the world such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Venezuela, places that are one step away from terrorist attacks, war, or have unfriendly government. Let us not forget Russia from whom we import oil.

Your models are based on the way things were. In the late 19th and early 20th century naysayers such as you were criticizing visionaries such as Henry Ford, because they couldn't imagine that there would be a demand for automobiles. Why? Because there was no infrastructure to manufacture and deliver fuel. The point is the Stossels of the world always talk as if things will remain the same and can't visualize the domino affect change has

I don't plan to bet the future of my family on depending on the oil dictators, sheiks and governments of unfriendly oil cartel nations. I would rather move forward through a combination of conservation, new auto technology, increased utilization of developing oil reserves, and the rapid development of alternative energy.

Stop being a naysayer and take a look around you. See what is going on. If you keep the blinders you will continue to show who the idiot is.

Keith Sanderson
President and Co founder
USA Energy Independence dot com

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