The new Republican-led House of Representatives is underway and it certainly looks exciting.

There is an investigation of the Biden family, starting evidence-free. Republicans are gleeful to have subpoena power, though it is a power greatly diminished by their party’s own’ refusal to honor subpoenas in the Jan. 6th investigation.

Still, the committee plans to do everything possible to stay busy and in the public spotlight until the 2024 presidential elections.

The goal of the Republican Rep. Comer-led committee appears to be to follow the highly successful investigations of Hillary Clinton in the Benghazi hearings…to find no guilt, but to damage the reputation of the target, this time, Joe Biden.

But while the Biden investigation is in search of a crime, or at least a sin, it is likely the premier event for this congress, the real impact of this congress will come from other sources.

The loudest distraction of the Biden “investigation” will be the Hunter Biden show, and that will cover and conceal the bill already quietly introduced by Georgia Republican Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter, the “Fair Tax Act.”

Republicans, never fans of taxing rich folks, have found the perfect solution with the Fair Tax Act. The Fair Tax Act is, as you might suspect, anything but fair. The Fair Tax Act is the Republican plan to institute a national sales tax.

The other name for the coming new tax program is to call it a consumption tax. So, simply said, you only pay if you consume something. Or purchase something. Or acquire something.

If you look closely, you will discover that the poorer you are, the higher percentage of what you make you consume. If you are poor enough, you consume all you make in things like food and clothing, and gas for your car.

On the other hand, if you are rich enough, you can hardly consume a fraction of the money coming into your bank account. It is a very Republican tax, you see.

The good news is that you will pay no income tax, and we will need no Republican-hated IRS. Taxation will be so simple that anyone can pay it, and no one can cheat it (except for rich folks with their excess cash and low consumption.) It is collected right at the pump, where your tank of gas is increased by 30 percent to cover the new tax.

If you buy a new car when the Fair Tax is passed into law, the 30 percent consumption tax on the current average purchase price of $38,000 is $11,400. Your new car will cost you $49,400 under the Fair Tax. Your grocery bill will also increase, as everything consumed is taxed, and food is certainly consumed.

If your grocery bill is $250 a week, add $75 Fair Tax. Your grocery bill will be $325 every week. And you thought eggs were expensive!

The Fair Tax is not the only target of the Republicans. Rep. Paul Gosar, of Arizona, just this week demanded that President Biden’s powers be reduced because COVID-19 is over. (COVID is over?)

Gosar also wants to protect the Second Amendment, the right of every cowboy to carry, and every server in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s restaurant, to wear and show their weapon of choice. That may require new legislation, as Gosar seems to blame the government for restricting these rights: “The FBI must be held accountable for intimidating American citizens into signing away their right to own, purchase, and use firearms.”

So, in summary, we have the investigation of the so-called Biden Crime Family, the Fair Tax bill, and the investigation into the supposedly criminal FBI on the front of the Republican agenda.

It looks like reducing inflation did not make the final cut, and cutting taxes on middle-income families is not in the Republican plan.

But investigating the FBI is?

Jim Crawford is a retired educator and political enthusiast living here in the Tri-State.