After serving seven terms in the Georgia General Assembly, in 1992 John was first elected to the US House of Representatives. He currently represents the 7th District of Georgia. This includes portions of Gwinnett, Walton, Barrow, Newton and Forsyth counties.

In the beginning of his Congressional career, John was appointed to the Republican Steering Committee, which is responsible for assigning Members of the House of Representatives to both serve on and chair various committees in the House. Determined to maintain a Republican majority in the House, John accepted a key position in the Republican Party leadership by becoming the Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee from 1996 – 1998.

John was re-elected to the Ways and Means Committee and will continue to serve on the Subcommittee on Oversight and the Subcommittee on Select Revenue, which serves as the chief subcommittee on tax policy.

The Ways and Means Committee is an exclusive, or "A" list, committee in the House, and therefore, it will be John's only committee in the 110th Congress.

Throughout his political career, John has held the belief that the individual, not government, can make better decisions for their families. With this principle guiding him, John has always opposed fiscal irresponsibility in government, from his 12 years in the Democrat-dominated Georgia legislative to his current Congressional position. Perhaps John is best known for his leadership to reduce the tax burden of the IRS on the individual. John’s plan is known as the Fair Tax, which is designed to abolish all federal income taxes, including payroll taxes, self-employment taxes, capital gains taxes, gift taxes and death taxes, and replaces them all with one simple, straightforward federal sales tax. All of this would allow the American people to keep 100% of their paychecks.

Born September 9, 1942, in Deer River, Minnesota (population 800), Linder graduated from the University of Minnesota with both a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in dental surgery. John served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force from 1967 to 1969. Upon completion of his military service, Linder moved to Georgia in 1969 where he began his private dental practice. In 1977 Linder founded Linder Financial Corp., an asset-based lending institution providing financial assistance to small and entrepreneurial businesses throughout the South, serving as President of that company until his election to Congress in 1992. Married for 43 years, John and his wife, Lynne, have two adult children and four grandsons.