 The creation of the FairTax began with a group of businessmen from Houston , Texas , who initially financed what has become the political advocacy group Americans For Fair Taxation ( AFFT ) , which has grown into a large tax reform movement . This organization , founded in 1994 , claims to have spent over $ 20 million in research , marketing , lobbying , and organizing efforts over a ten @-@ year period and is seeking to raise over $ 100 million more to promote the plan . AFFT includes a staff in Houston and a large group of volunteers who are working to get the FairTax enacted . Bruce Bartlett has charged that the FairTax was devised by the Church of Scientology in the early 1990s , drawing comparisons between the tax policy and religious doctrine from the faith , whose creation myth holds that an evil alien ruler known as Xenu " used phony tax inspections as a guise for destroying his enemies . " Representative John Linder told the Atlanta Journal @-@ Constitution that Bartlett confused the FairTax movement with the Scientology @-@ affiliated Citizens for an Alternative Tax System , which also seeks to abolish the federal income tax and replace it with a national retail sales tax . Leo <unk> , AFFT Chairman and CEO , stated " As a founder of Americans For Fair Taxation , I can state categorically , however , that Scientology played no role in the founding , research or crafting of the legislation giving expression to the FairTax . " 
