Republican congressional candidate Laureen Cummings touted her support Thursday for a "fair tax" that she said would eliminate all the major federal taxes and keep Social Security and Medicare solvent.
The fair tax - a 23 percent national sales tax on all new goods - would raise at least enough money to replace the federal income tax, the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes and the capital gains and inheritances taxes.
The tax would also raise enough money to pay Americans a monthly rebate that they could use to help them pay the tax, she said. The present tax system does not work and favors companies that can afford to lobby Congress for tax breaks, she said.
The fair tax has never gained traction in Washington partly because many believe it won't produce the revenues its advocates say, although the House Ways and Means Committee hosted hearings on it last year.
"The tax system is going to be restructured," Ms. Cummings said.
If the fair tax doesn't work within seven years, the nation can return to its present system, she said.
Ms. Cummings is seeking the 17th Congressional District seat against Democratic attorney Matt Cartwright of Moosic. The district encompasses all or parts of six counties, including the Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Pittston areas and all of Schuylkill County.
Ms. Cummings, an Old Forge resident and owner of a home-health nursing company, said she first got involved in politics to support Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign for president, but felt the former first lady and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin were mistreated as candidates that year.
Given that and her unhappiness with the federal bailout of banks and President Barack Obama's stimulus package, she founded a local tea party group "to get conservatives to step up and run for office."
"As someone who was a Democrat for most of my life, I was under the impression the Democrats were for the little guy and the Republicans were for the CEOs (chief executive officers of companies)," she said. "That's a false narrative."
When she became a business owner, she was shocked to find employers match employees' contributions to Social Security and Medicare and must deal with a host of regulations, she said.
"I feel that I've always been a conservative and I just didn't know it," she said.
Ms. Cummings said the fair tax will solve several collateral problems, including the solvency of Social Security and Medicare and illegal immigration.
Illegal immigrants will be ineligible to receive the fair tax rebates, will find the new market conditions too expensive to bear and return to their native countries, she said.
Ms. Cummings said the fair tax will also put control of the nation's health care system in the hands of consumers, who will have more money to shop around for health insurance they can afford.
Once that happens, insurers will compete for consumers' business, driving down the cost of health care, she said.
"Competition needs to happen in the medical industry if the free market is to work. You don't have that now," she said.
While she believes in the free market and individual freedom, Ms. Cummings said she supports overturning the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling on abortion and allowing states to decide whether to legalize abortion.
"This country has been stained by Roe v. Wade," she said. "I believe in the right to life. To take that right away from a child that didn't even get the option to live" is wrong.
She denied holding strict ideological views and portrayed tea party members as believing in the Constitution and balanced budgets.
"I don't look at myself as ideological" because she believes the nation's problems must be fixed, she said. "We cannot continue to go on same path. I believe in helping the American people. I'm not looking to go to Washington to say to Mr. (John) Boehner (the House speaker) 'Yes, I'll do everything you want me to do.' "
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com