Posted on 01/11/2023 6:43:18 AM PST by Red Badger
The Republican-led House will vote on a bill to abolish the IRS and replace the existing income tax system with a wide-reaching consumption tax.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) introduced the legislation, the Fair Tax Act, on Tuesday. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) agreed to allow a floor vote on the legislation as part of a deal cut with the conservative House Freedom Caucus to become House speaker, Fox News reported.
The bill, which has a near zero chance of becoming law during this Congress, envisions simplifying the tax code by scrapping the income tax, payroll tax, corporate taxes, gift taxes, and the death tax altogether and replacing them with a nationwide consumption tax on goods and services. The IRS as an entity would also be killed by the legislation.
The "Fair Tax" plan is one that has been touted by conservative lawmakers for more than two decades, although it has never gained widespread acceptance within the GOP and is vehemently opposed by Democrats. The bill is in many ways the polar opposite of the Democratic legislation passed last year that infuses the IRS with funds to hire tens of thousands of more IRS workers.
“Instead of adding 87,000 new agents to weaponize the IRS against small business owners and middle America, this bill will eliminate the need for the department entirely by simplifying the tax code with provisions that work for the American people and encourage growth and innovation. Armed, unelected bureaucrats should not have more power over your paycheck than you do,” said Carter in a statement.
Several other conservative lawmakers have already signaled support for the Fair Tax Act and joined as co-sponsors, including Reps. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Bob Good (R-VA), Jim Banks (R-IN), and Kat Cammack (R-FL).
Proponents argue that the change would be fairer to the taxpayer by clarifying and simplifying the tax code while supporting businesses in the United States. The proposal gained increased national attention during the 2008 presidential election when former Gov. Mike Huckabee ran on the platform during the Republican primaries.
“As a former small business owner, I understand the unnecessary burden our failing income tax system has on Americans. The Fair Tax Act eliminates the tax code, replaces the income tax with a sales tax, and abolishes the abusive Internal Revenue Service,” said Duncan.
The bill’s introduction comes a day after the House held its first vote under Republican leadership, which was to claw back a majority of the $80 billion allocated to the IRS by Democrats last year. It passed 221-210 along party lines.
Now your talkin!
So, they are going to waste time on this? Is McCarthy trying to check off all the boxes on the list of “demands”?
Republicans are up to their usual tricks. Why no bills like this when they had The House and Senate and a republican President a few years ago? Same old play book.
Pissing into the wind.
It’s a great idea. That’s why they won’t pass it.
We will probably need something like a VAT going forward if we eliminate income tax..
They had their chance in 2017, they decided to play the russian game instead
“Why no bills like this when they had The House and Senate and a republican President a few years ago?”
Simple. They would have had no excuse for not passing it.
Steve Forbes lost an election on this issue. I thought it was a plausible idea.
State and local taxes would remain as they presently are.
“Why no bills like this when they had The House and Senate and a republican President a few years ago?”
RINO’s
Republicans are always great when they know it’ll never make it in to law.
And "trust us" is for the Flounders of the world.
If you are net in debt and have spent money you haven’t earned yet then this is great for you as you won’t be taxed on the money you earn to pay down your debt. If you have savings you’ve already paid taxes on then you get to pay taxes again when you spend it.
No VAT. That would be no better than the income tax we have now.
Going no where...waste of time.
Dog and pony show. No chance of moving through the Senate.
abolish the IRS is good.
make April 15th just another day.
i won’t hold my breath though
Ah, no. The “Fair” tax is a scheme concocted by the psuedo-conservative twat Neal Boortz. It is a VAT tax scheme the implementation of which would necessarily require the logging of all commercial transactions and anyone who says otherwise is either a liar or a fool. The ass who invented it can’t even correctly calculate the percentages of levy (it’s actually 30%)!
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