Posted on 04/13/2005 1:46:41 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Rep. John Linder reintroduces legislation to overhaul federal system Posted: April 13, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
A federal bill that would do away with federal income tax and replace it with a national sales tax has been introduced again in the House of Representative after the same bill failed to get committee consideration in the last Congress.
The bill, H.R. 25, is sponsored by Rep. John Linder, R-Ga. Dubbed the "FairTax" proposal, the bill "will repeal all corporate and individual income taxes, payroll taxes, self-employment taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes and gift taxes – and replace it with a revenue-neutral personal consumption tax," according to the congressman's website.
Because the 23 percent consumption tax is paid only by the end user, business-to-business purchases for the production of goods and services would not be taxed. An organization pushing Linder's plan, Americans for Fair Taxation, estimates consumer prices would drop by an estimated 20-30 percent as a result of the change.
Also included in the bill is a rebate payment that would go to every American household to replace the sales tax paid on necessities. Those in poverty, the bill's proponents say, would effectively not pay any tax under the new system.
"Under the FairTax, no American will pay taxes on necessities," says Americans for Fair Taxation. "The rebate will be equivalent to the tax paid on essential goods and services. The rebate will be mailed before the tax is actually paid [and] will be paid in equal installments at the beginning of the month. The size of the monthly rebate will be determined by the federal poverty level for a particular household size."
Says Linder: "The FairTax offers long-needed tax relief – in the form of lower prices, nearly nonexistent compliance costs and the ability to choose how much to spend in taxes – to all Americans, while eliminating the income tax and allowing Americans to keep 100 percent of their paycheck."
Though supporters had hoped to have 100 co-sponsors' names on the bill by July of last year, the 108th Congress ended with the legislation having garnered just 54 co-sponsors.
At 54 co-sponsors, however, the bill had the most of any "fundamental tax-reform bill in the last Congress," noted Gretchen Learman, Linder's spokesperson.
"We're rebuilding up to that number now," she said, noting the bill, which was reintroduced on Jan. 4 currently has 30 co-sponsors.
Learman hopes increased interest in the idea of scrapping the much-maligned IRS will help to collect co-sponsors and get a hearing of the bill on the committee level.
On his website, Linder says the idea of "putting the nation on a simple, fair and voluntary tax system is building excitement among folks across the country every day."
Pipe dream.
Media + democrats + unions would go into overdrive and/or possibly riot before such a thing ever passes.
Just wait until the "big 3" anchors take notice of it. It'll get killed.
When I see you here I know it is way past my bedtime and thank you for your posts. I usually back space to get them.
In CA, food is not subject to sales tax. Why not simply exempt food, soap, and second-hand items from the proposed federal sales tax instead of issuing monthly checks? Do the complexity and risk for fraud with certain items exempted from tax outweigh the costs of mailing monthly checks?
Because the 23 percent consumption tax is paid only by the end user, ... Americans for Fair Taxation, estimates consumer prices would drop by an estimated 20-30 percent as a result of the change.
If so, there would be no need for a monthly "rebate" check or exemptions from taxes on necessities.
Everyone, including the poor, would be paying less for everything despite the sales taxes.
Canada already has a GST tax, which gives a GST rebate check every 4 months to low income people. BUT, you still have to pay Unemployment Insurance, Social Security Pension Plan, Income tax off your paycheck, which adds up to about 50% or more.
You pay the GST on everything you buy with what you have left
What hurts immediately is the 7% GST on everything you buy, plus a provincial sales tax (pst) of 7% or more on everything you buy. Think of the tax bill on something like a car.
Don't think that a NST (national sales tax) would be any different here. The state will still need to collect their share.
Origionally, the GST in Canada was supposed to be an all inclusive tax, but as you can see, you can't believe anything a politician tells you.
I agree that this is not going to happen. Which is probably a good thing. Because by the time this bill made it through, it would be amended beyond all recognition and we'd end up with both an income tax AND a national sales tax like European countries.
Congress is not going to volunteer to give up their ability to provide or deny favors via the income tax. However, the list of obstructionists should be expanded to also include "moderate" Republicans. They'll fight to preserve the existing system as they benefit from it as well.
Imagine the enforcement arm of that...
when folks refuse to charge sales tax....
Money will have to be gotten rid of ..to shut down what Hillary once called the evil underground economy...and those
criminals who fail to pay or fail to charge sales tax...
We will definately need us a cashless society then..
may as well implant those chips right away...
rots of ruck
The only way to eliminate the Federal Income Tax is to repeal the 16th Ammendment to the Constitution. Even if Congress passed a law that ended the income tax and switched to some other form of taxation, the 16th Ammendment would still allow Congress to reimpose an income tax at some time in the future.
You nailed it.
Absolutely true.
exempting food would be like substituting steak for hamburger... tax the food, let the poor contribute to the running of the government like everyone else and then disperse the necessary refunds for poverty...
everyone enjoys the freedoms of our society, everyone pays... eat expensively pay more taxes.
the fair tax is a start, don't start exempting things... that's how our tax system got botched to begin with.
teeman
I expect the reverse, that they would LOVE a general revenue tariff (WTO rules allow such) that impedes the attractiveness of manufactured imports. A tariff is just a "sales tax" on the bad consumption pattern of importing too much, and making too little of our own manufactures. They know full well that taxing our corporations income, capital gains, and wages just results in uncompetitiveness...and ultimate job loss through outsourcing or straight foreign competition.
This, along with a strong defense of the 2nd Amendment, is a real opportunity for us to permanently split the union rank-and-file from any covert communist leadership which is going along with the Left's world-government socialism vision. This would be a far smarter play than Karl Rove's bent on getting Mexicans voting GOP via having Mexico incorporated into the U.S. as a 51st state.
How about a FAQ page?
How about a brief outline of the bill?.
I agree. Unions will see that millions of jobs will be created in the US.
"No current supporter of the FairTax would support the FairTax unless the entire income tax is repealed. Moreover, concurrent with the repeal of the income tax, a constitutional amendment repealing the 16th Amendment and prohibiting an income tax will be pushed through Congress for ratification by the states."
And if Congress balks? Or the States don't ratify?
How difficult would it be to convince us that we need all that stuff back again? How difficult would it be to re-write, negotiate, and pass another entire, new income tax code?
Those are significant obstacles!
The bill makes the taxation of income illegal, but not unconstitutional. To make the taxation of income unconstitutional, an amendment is needed to both repeal the 16th AND to affirmatively state that the taxation of income is unconstitutional. It isn't the 16th that makes taxing income unconstitutional - just the way they collect it. But an amendment as described would solve the problem.
I have 2 concerns with a sales tax:
1. What impact will it have on purchasing, if the amount of the tax discourages buying. What impact would that have on the overall economy?
2. Would this not encourage a black market, where sellers could sell items without forcing consumers to pay the sales tax?
too simple, and would end too many jobs won't happen.
Ping received, thanks. Boortz and Linder have finished their fair tax book. It should be out very soon.
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