More ’23-percent sales tax hike’ accusations from a Tea Party opponent

One of the most popular tactics of Democrats and/or their fake Tea Party put-up candidates has been to accuse the real Tea Party candidates of wanting to raise sales taxes by 23 percent. What is never stated in the ads is that the Tea Party candidates favor the Fair Tax, which would supplant the federal income tax with a 23 percent sales tax, resulting, proponents say, in a tax reduction for most citizens.

Democrats Bob Etheridge and Mike McIntyre have used it against their opponents this year, an Arkansas Democrat also used it, and now Democrats in Texas are using the tactic, employing a pro-Democratic spoiler candidate to make the claim:

The mailing cites the candidate’s web sites as supporting ‘facts’ for claims made about Rodriguez and Stephens, but for claims made against Canseco, including the bizarre assertion that ‘under Francisco Canseco’s plan there would be a 23% sales tax on nearly everything we buy,’ the mailing cites, as supporting evidence for its claims, a You Tube video of a Rodriguez campaign ad.

The tax increase claim is a reference to what is called ‘the Fair Tax,’ a proposal to eliminate the federal income tax and replace it with a national sales tax. ‘The Fair Tax’ is at best a fringe proposal which has no chance of passing, but Democrats are using it to try to attack Republican candidates as tax raisers.

The mailing does not specify which party the three candidates belong to.

I speculated in the blog post linked in the second paragraph above that this was a Democratic strategy that was concocted centrally and communicated nationally. Seems that is the case:

Republicans say Democrats are trying similar tactics in 16 other hotly contested races statewide. The idea is to use a third party or independent candidate, in some cases the third party candidate is actually identified wither in Democratic Party mailings or on the actual ballot as a representative of the ‘Tea Party.’

Observers say the goal is this tactic is to siphon off just enough votes from conservatives excited about the third party candidates’ alleged ‘tax cutting’ pledges from the Republican candidate to throw the election to the Democrat.