Former Ohio congressman James Traficant (D) was released from prison today after serving seven years for bribery, racketeering and fraud. The congressman was well-known for his entertaining one-minute speeches on the House floor that always included the Star Trek phrase “Beam Me Up.” Traficant also hated the IRS as this one-minute speech from 2000 shows: Madam Speaker, the Tax Code must go. Our labor, our savings, our investments all taxed. Our boat, our goat, our vote all taxed. Our sweat, our thrift, our future all taxed. Beam me up. Tax this. It is time to replace the socialist Income Tax Code in America with a simple flat 15 percent sales tax. No more forms, no more lawyers, no more accountants, no more IRS and, once again, Congress will restore liberty, true liberty, in America. I yield back with the slogan `the Tax Code must go.’
