Local residents are being encouraged to travel to Russell Monday for a public meeting on taxes.
According to one of the event’s organizers, a group of Barton and Russell county taxpayers will host the informational session on the proposed Fair Tax Bill H.R. 25, using Monday since that is the last day to file income taxes this year.
The usual tax deadline was extended this year because the District of Columbia will observe Emancipation Day on Friday, and since that is a holiday, the final day for filing falls on the next business day, which will be April 18.
That complication is not part of the simplification of tax laws that will be discussed at the meeting, however.
According to Leon Haselhorst, one of those helping to organize the event, the informational meeting on H.R. 25 is planned for 7 p.m. Monday in the Dole Center at the AmericInn, 1430 South Fossil, just north of I-70 in Russell.
He said the event is intended to draw concerned taxpayers from a four-county area.
Information that will be included, Haselhorst reported will include:
• How Social Security and Medicare can be saved without raising taxes and decreasing benefits.
• The fair tax option calls for no income tax deductions from paychecks.
• No income tax forms will be filed or tax money sent on April 15 to pay taxes.
• The IRS would be defunded and eliminated.
• Senior citizens will not pay taxes on Social Security benefits. “No one will have to pay the embedded taxes on your 401K, IRA or deferred retirement accounts,” according to information from Haselhorst.
• Inheritance would be tax free. “You can pass on your estate to your children, grandchildren or whomever you want, tax free,” he noted.
• American producers will “have a level playing field in international competition.”
• And one of the goals of the movement is to bring funding into the country. “Investors will return to the United States, bringing millions of jobs and billions of dollars.”
The program will also discuss why 57 congress members and five senators are already cosponsoring the move.
“If you want to live in America where freedom from government control of your income is assured, join us on April 18. You will be glad you did,” he added.
There will be written material available at the event to help explained the fair tax option, Haselhorst added. For more information or questions, contact him, 620-786-8880.