I am appalled by the news articles I have been reading regarding the proposals you have made to overhaul the tax code. Not only will your proposals continue to hurt the working class CASH COW TAXPAYERS, affluency and money continues to benefit in all respects because they have you in their pockets! As always, some things never change! Former Senator Connie Mack is quoted as saying “Simplification has driven this. Also fairness.” I beg to differ with you on that statement, as simplification and fairness are no where to be found among the proposals that have been made. You continue to favor high income earners along with the dividend and trust babies. You also continue to pit homeowners against renters, families with children and those without children, and urban versus rural. The changes you propose won’t do anything to help taxpayers as it appears that you are continuing to further complicate the tax system that will also require us to continue to have to pay hundreds of dollars for a tax preparer to prepare our yearly forms. Why can’t you be grown ups about this and get those lobbyists and their influence peddling OUT of the system and all aspects of the government once and for all. It is those very people who interfere with a free-flowing government and the free market system itself. Why are there subsidies for dairy products or other agricultural interests, as well as other special interest aspects of the economy? Would that be because of the multitude of powerful lobby groups in Washington with their free trips, dinners, gatherings, and other goodies? The taxpayers have no one running interference for them. There is no one from a working-class family that has any input into whatever kind of decisions or options are being considered. We are not as dumb as you take us for. We can’t even threaten to vote you out of office because you have been appointed to your position with no worry about any backlash. You all have had so much power and money for so long, that if you ever were a member of the working class, you have amnesia and have forgotten your roots. Do you know how hard it is to make ends meet with, among other things, the price of gas doubling in the past year. Along with costs for groceries, all other basic and necessary living expense items are also increasing. My family has cut out ALL extras and we’re still having problems paying our bills. We are not impulse buyers nor are we extravagant in what purchases we do make. People have to drive to work to make a living. My husband and I have carpooled for the last 10 years to make ends meet and to cut down on some of the expense. Even that is not now working. Premiums for health and automobile insurance keep going up and, by law, we have to have the auto insurance. We also can’t afford to get sick and can only pray that our health continues to be good. Each and every day we are hopeful to be careful enough to avoid situations that might result in an accidental injury. But accidents happen. If anything occurs that would prevent either of us from working for even a short period of time, we would be facing bankruptcy — and that would be under the new act and not the former one. Property taxes continue to increase with no end in sight. Even with clean driving records, our premiums continue to go up every 6 months, no matter how much shopping around we do! Did you know you get penalized on your insurance if you switch companies too often? (Well, you probably don’t know that because you probably have tax accountants and bookkeepers to pay your bills for you!) News indicates that you have announced there will be no consideration of a consumption tax. Have any of you even given any consideration to reading at the Neal Boortz book “The FairTax Book” yourself rather than relying on others to interpret it for you? When I first heard of the idea of a consumption tax, I wasn’t in agreement as I didn’t understand how the system would work with all the other taxes that have to be paid. Then I read the book. Why not try something new here instead of falling back on the old “familiar” broken system that has been in place for as long as anyone alive can remember? The tax system is a mess and will continue to be a mess until someone grabs some brooms and sweeps it all out the door and into the gutter where it belongs! If every individual, company, entity, governmental agency, etc. all were to pay the same sales tax amount –- 23% — then NO ONE is treated more favorably than anyone else. It certainly couldn’t be much worse what we have in place! All of you need to either shit or get off the pot! If you can’t revise the tax code to eliminate all favoritism to special and monied interests, get someone in there who isn’t swayed with the influence peddlers who abound about you!