John Linder

John Linder
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 7th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Bob Barr
Georgia's 11th congressional district
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2003
Georgia's 4th congressional district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1997
Born	September 9, 1942 (1942-09-09) (age 67) Deer River, Minnesota
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lynne Linder
Residence	Duluth, Georgia
Alma mater	University of Minnesota
Occupation	dentist
Religion	Presbyterian
Military service
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1967-1969

John Elmer Linder (born September 9, 1942), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993, representing Georgia's 7th congressional district (map).

He was born in Deer River, Minnesota, was educated at the University of Minnesota, served in the United States Air Force, was a dentist and businessman, president of a lending institution, and a member of the Georgia House of Representatives before entering the House. ^[1]

Linder has also taken a leadership role in the effort to enact fundamental tax reform. His legislation, the Fair Tax Act (H.R. 25), is a proposal for changing United States tax laws to replace all federal personal income taxes, payroll taxes, corporate taxes, capital gains taxes, self-employment taxes, gift taxes and inheritance taxes with a national retail sales tax and monthly tax rebate to households of citizens and legal resident aliens.^[2] In 2006, he voted against renewal of the Voting Rights Act.

District history

Georgia gained two seats after the 2000 census, but the Georgia state legislature produced a map intended to produce a congressional delegation of seven Democrats and six Republicans. Linder and fellow Republican Bob Barr were drawn into a heavily Republican district that, while retaining Barr's district number (the 7th), contained more of the territory Linder had represented in what had been the 4th District from 1993 to 1997 and the 11th District since 1997. Linder handily defeated Barr in the 2002 Republican primary, all but assuring him of a sixth term. Linder ran unopposed in 2004. In 2006, he was re-elected with 70.9% of the vote.^[3]

Fair Tax Act

U.S. Rep John Linder holding the 132 page Fair Tax Act in contrast to the more than 50,000 pages of tax code laws and regulations currently in effect.

Linder is coauthor of The FairTax Book with radio talk show host Neal Boortz, which spent time atop the New York Times bestseller list.^[4] The book discusses H.R.25, also known as the Fair Tax Act, which Linder sponsored. They released a follow up book FairTax: The Truth in 2008.^[5]

Linder first introduced the legislation in July 1999 to the 106th United States Congress. He has reintroduced substantially the same bill in each subsequent session of Congress. While the proposed bill has yet to have a major effect on the tax system, the Fair Tax Act has the highest number of cosponsors among tax reform proposals (attracting 76 in the 110th United States Congress),^[6] gathering much stronger support than popular flat tax legislation. A number of congressional committees have heard testimony on the FairTax; however, it has not been voted on in either Chamber. The bill is cosponsored by former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, but has not received support from the Democratic leadership.^[7] Matching legislation has been introduced into the Senate by Georgia Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss. The FairTax has generated a large grassroots tax reform movement in recent years, led by the non-partisan group Americans For Fair Taxation.^[8]

Interest Groups

Rep. John Linder is very well known for his work with interest groups such as Americans for Fair Taxation as well as National Taxpayers Union but Representative Linder has been recognized by many other interest groups. Dating back to 1996 Rep.^[9] John Linder has backed the interest group National Right to Life Committee 100 percent of the time. Another section of interest groups that Rep. John Linder has backed is in the Business and Consumers sector.^[10] Rep. Linder since 1996 has backed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce no lower that 90 percent of the time accept in 2005 where he backed them 75 percent of the time and through out his career he has backed groups like National Small Business Association, National Association of Manufacturers, National Restaurant Association, and Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. He also has backed the interests of the NRA throughout his whole career.^[11]

Campaign Finance

Rep. John Linder’s Campaign Finances are a very interesting subject to look at. Being a former dentist he has received $40,100 from health professionals, as well as $57,900 from the Health sector as a whole. He also ran his own lending firm so he receives backing from the Insurance and Finance sector amounting to $86,839 as 12/31/2008.^[12]He has received $25,401 from the Construction industry and $25,300 from the Energy and Natural Resources industry. Overall in the 2008 cycle he has a total income of $581,976 of which he spent $375,540, and by the end of the cycle he had accumulated no debt at all.^[13]

Voting Record

Rep. John Linder’s voting record shows that he is a very solid conservative that has carried him to success in his district and throughout his political career. He has shown through out his career that he is very pro life voting for bills like Prohibit Partial-Birth/Late Term Abortion bill and Ban on Partial-Birth/Late Term Abortion.^[14] He also is strong fiscal conservative which is shown by his voting against every piece of the stimulus package and most big government spending programs throughout his career such as Auto Industry Financing, Funding to Combat AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis, Housing Bill with Energy Tax Credit Extensions, Medicare Bill, and Public Transportation and Alternative Fuel Grants.^[15]

Criticisms

FairTax presentation

Some have criticized Linder, Neal Boortz, and Americans For Fair Taxation for the way that they have presented the FairTax plan, tax reform that replaces all federal income taxes with a single national sales tax on personal consumption above poverty level. The most common critique is the method of presenting the FairTax rate as a 23% sales tax. Under the plan, consumers would pay to the government $23 of every $100 (referred to as tax inclusive): items priced at $100 would contain $23 of taxes.^[4] American sales taxes have historically been expressed as a percentage of the original sale price (referred to as tax exclusive): items produced at $77 pre-tax, cost $100 with the tax added (30% on top of $77).^[16] Congressman John Linder has stated that the FairTax would be implemented as an inclusive tax, which would include the tax in the retail price, not added on at checkout—an item on the shelf for five dollars would be five dollars total.^[5] The receipt would display the tax as 23 percent of the total.^[2] Linder states the FairTax is presented as a 23 percent tax rate for easy comparison to income tax rates (the taxes it would be replacing). Proponents believe it is both inaccurate and misleading to say that an income tax is 23 percent and the FairTax is 30 percent as it implies that the sales tax burden is higher, when in fact the burden of the two taxes is precisely the same. The plan's opponents call the semantics deceptive.^[16] FactCheck called the presentation misleading, saying that it hides the real truth of the tax rate.^[17]

Non-disclosed travel

Linder has also been criticized for omitting a trip paid for by a client of lobbyist Jack Abramoff from travel disclosure forms, even though he declared it on his personal income filings. According to John Byrne and Ron Brynaert of The Raw Story, "Linder should have filed a travel form shortly after his trip and could have corrected it when he belatedly filed for other trips last year. Failing to properly report sponsored travel is a violation of House rules."^[18]

Committees assignments

• Committee on Ways and Means
  • Subcommittee on Oversight
  • Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures

Party leadership

• Republican Steering Committee

Electoral history

See also

• Americans For Fair Taxation
• FairTax

References

External links

• U.S. Representative John Linder official House site
• John Linder at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — John Linder campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — John Linder issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — John Linder campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative John Linder (GA) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — John Linder profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: John Linder voting record
• John Linder for U.S. Congress official campaign site
• Linder's FairTax official site