Colorado Springs – Five Republican candidates for the 5th Congressional District all agree that they would balance the federal budget and eliminate or reform the IRS if elected.
Five Republicans – Duncan Bremer, Jeff Crank, Doug Lamborn, Bentley Rayburn and Lionel Rivera – and Democrat Jay Fawcett squared off in a political forum Monday sponsored by the National Federation of Independent Business. John Anderson, a Republican and former El Paso County sheriff, was away on business and could not attend.
The men are seeking the job held for 20 years by Rep. Joel Hefley, who will retire at the end of the year.
Bremer, a former El Paso County commissioner, said the best proposal to reform the way Americans are taxed is the “fair tax,” a federal sales tax of about 23 percent.
Crank, a former aide to Hefley and vice president of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce said: “We need to get rid of the IRS. American taxpayers simply shouldn’t be afraid of going to jail over making a mistake over an accounting error. They shouldn’t be that fearful of their government.”
Lamborn, a state senator, said the country should move toward a fair tax, though he is concerned that mortgage deductions would not be allowed under that system.
“It would be great if we had a one-page tax return. We would save hundreds of billions of dollars a year in lost manpower if we didn’t have to, every year of either you or your accountant filling out tax returns, multiple, multiple pages,” he said.
Rayburn, a retired Air Force major general, said he is “very intrigued by the notion of a fair tax.
“The nice thing about the fair tax is that it taxes the entire economy, including the underground economy. … I would only support it as it went through Congress and the IRS and the income tax was in fact was eliminated. The last thing you want is two systems that tax you twice,” Rayburn said.
Rivera, the mayor of Colorado Springs, said he supports reforming the tax system, but he said there are questions that haven’t been answered about the fair tax, including the fact that interest on mortgages no longer would be deductible.
“More importantly to me, now we’re going to have municipal bonds that we will have to pay taxes on; that’s going to impact a lot of our seniors. A lot of our seniors rely on tax-free income for their retirement income. … It’s also going to impact municipalities; municipalities issue tax-free bonds to fund construction of roads and other major projects. … If we can answer those two questions, I’d certainly be in support of something like the fair tax.”
Three candidates, Rivera, Rayburn and Crank said market forces should drive what the minimum wage should be. Lamborn said the minimum wage should not be raised and Bremer said the federal minimum wage should be eliminated.
Fawcett, a retired Air Force officer, will face the winner of the Aug. 8 Republican primary.
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or at eemery@denverpost.com.
