00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 31                                                                                           
01 Urging the United States Congress to consider and enact legislation to revise the                                       
02 Internal Revenue Code to levy a flat tax.                                                                               
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04  WHEREAS the current federal Internal Revenue Code is characterized by myriad                                           
05 exemptions, exceptions, loopholes, complicated schedules, and targeted tax breaks, and is                               
06 fraught with pitfalls for the taxpayer who attempts to calculate the tax obligation due; and                            
07  WHEREAS, because the Code imposes a taxation on the earnings of personal savings,                                      
08 the tax is counterproductive of efforts to encourage individuals and families to save and invest                        
09 a portion of their incomes; and                                                                                         
10  WHEREAS there is a need to replace the current federal Internal Revenue Code with                                      
11 a fairer, simpler tax system; and                                                                                       
12  WHEREAS substitution of a fixed-rate or "flat" tax would mean that all income would                                    
13 be taxed only once, at a uniform rate; and                                                                              
14  WHEREAS a fixed-rate or "flat" tax would exclude from the definition of taxable                                        

01 income the earnings from personal and business savings, thereby eliminating the "savings                                
02 penalty"; and                                                                                                           
03  WHEREAS the replacement of the current Internal Revenue Code with a fixed-rate                                         
04 or "flat" tax would restore a high degree of fairness to the manner in which the federal                                
05 government treats the people of the United States.                                                                      
06  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States Congress                                      
07 to consider and enact legislation to replace the current Internal Revenue Code with the levy                            
08 of a fixed-rate or "flat" tax.                                                                                          
09  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                                
10 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and president                            
11 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of                                           
12 Representatives; the Honorable Bob Dole, U.S. Senate Majority Leader; the Honorable Tom                                 
13 Daschle, U.S. Senate Minority Leader; the Honorable Dick Armey, U.S. House Majority                                     
14 Leader; the Honorable Richard Gephardt, U.S. House Minority Leader; the Honorable Bob                                   
15 Packwood, Chair, and the Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan, ranking minority member,                                    
16 Senate Finance Committee; the Honorable Bill Archer, Chair, and the Honorable Sam                                       
17 Gibbons, ranking minority member, House Committee on Ways and Means; and to the                                         
18 Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the                                         
19 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in the United                                
20 States Congress.