John Elmer Linder (born September 9, 1942) is an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2011.

[1] In March 2019, he was announced as President Donald Trump's nominee to be the next United States Representative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations;[2] Linder was not confirmed and his nomination expired at the end of the Trump administration.

He was born in Deer River, Minnesota, was educated at the University of Minnesota Duluth,[3] served in the United States Air Force, was a dentist and businessman, president of a lending institution, and a member of the Georgia House of Representatives where he served for seven terms.

[5] In the 109th and 110th Congresses, Linder took a leadership role in the effort to enact fundamental tax reform.

[7] The book discusses H.R.25 Archived 2008-09-18 at the Wayback Machine, also known as the Fair Tax Act, which Linder sponsored.

The bill is cosponsored by former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, but has not received support from the Democratic leadership.

[11] Linder has worked with interest groups such as Americans for Fair Taxation as well as National Taxpayers Union.

He also ran his own lending firm so he receives backing from the Insurance and Finance sector amounting to $86,839 as 12/31/2008.

[14] Linder voted against the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

He voted against measures to shield the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling.

[21] Linder voted against the DREAM Act, which would benefit undocumented youth who were brought to the United States as children.

The most common critique is the method of presenting the FairTax rate as a 23% sales tax.

[24] FactCheck called the presentation misleading, saying that it hides the real truth of the tax rate.

Under economic principles normally applied by the Linder and Boortz, removing the cost of participation would increase not only the number of beneficiaries but the size of claims.

Linder has also been criticized for omitting a trip paid for by a client of lobbyist Jack Abramoff from travel disclosure forms, even though he declared it on his personal income filings.

"[26] Linder was first elected to Congress from the newly created 4th District in 1992, defeating state senator Cathey Steinberg by 2,600 votes.

Linder handily defeated Barr in the 2002 Republican primary, all but assuring him of a sixth term.