This spring, I worked on my least desirable task: preparing our 1040 for submittal to the IRS. We hope all taxpayers will be in favor of the following, presented by Fairtax.org.

· Creates jobs where the current system destroys jobs. By stripping out hidden federal income taxes and compliance costs, the Fair Tax makes U.S. goods more competitive overseas and more affordable at home, thereby sharply increasing job creation while sharply reducing our balance of payments deficit.

· Gives you your whole paycheck. No federal withholding! What you earn, you get.

· Eliminates Social Security withholding, the most regressive tax of all, while ensuring the system fulfills its promise to one generation without being a terrible burden on the next.

· Eliminates the corporate taxes and cost of compliance hidden in both wholesale and retail prices.

· Dramatically lowers effective tax rates for lowerand middle-income earners; a rebate ends taxes up to the poverty level.

· Allows families to save more and faster for home ownership, education and retirement.

· Allows homeowners to pay their entire house payment with pre-tax dollars, a great improvement over the current home interest deduction.

· Frees up time wasted on filling out cumbersome and inscrutable IRS forms throughout the economy to the tune of $250 billion or more (about 3 percent of GDP).

· Raises the same amount of revenue for the federal government (revenue neutral).

· Abolishes the IRS. For more information, go to www.fairtax.org.

Walter J. Ruzicka