Posted on 08/01/2004 6:08:53 PM PDT by NeoCaveman
A domestic centerpiece of the Bush/GOP agenda for a second Bush term is getting rid of the Internal Revenue Service, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
The Speaker of the House will push for replacing the nation's current tax system with a national sales tax or a value added tax, Hill sources tell DRUDGE.
"People ask me if I’m really calling for the elimination of the IRS, and I say I think that’s a great thing to do for future generations of Americans," Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert explains in his new book, to be released on Wednesday.
"Pushing reform legislation will be difficult. Change of any sort seldom comes easy. But these changes are critical to our economic vitality and our economic security abroad," Hastert declares in SPEAKER: LESSONS FROM FORTY YEARS IN COACHING AND POLITICS.
"“If you own property, stock, or, say, one hundred acres of farmland and tax time is approaching, you don’t want to make a mistake, so you’re almost obliged to go to a certified public accountant, tax preparer, or tax attorney to help you file a correct return. That costs a lot of money. Now multiply the amount you have to pay by the total number of people who are in the same boat. You can’t. No one can because precise numbers don’t exist. But we can stipulate that we’re talking about a huge amount. Now consider that a flat tax, national sales tax, or VAT would not only eliminate the need to do this, it could also eliminate the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) itself and make the process of paying taxes much easier."
"By adopting a VAT, sales tax, or some other alternative, we could begin to change productivity. If you can do that, you can change gross national product and start growing the economy. You could double the economy over the next fifteen years. All of a sudden, the problem of what future generations owe in Social Security and Medicare won’t be so daunting anymore. The answer is to grow the economy, and the key to doing that is making sure we have a tax system that attracts capital and builds incentives to keep it here instead of forcing it out to other nations."
Since you are probably either a CPA or have something to do with taxes, I'd like to ask you a question: How will CPA's and tax accountants be affected under an NRST?
With the extra millions that businesses will have to invest after the elimination of the payroll tax, will CPA's keep the current workload or maybe even see a increase in business?
Accountants will still be around since accounting requirements will always be there for corporations, LLC's and limited partnerships.....
The end of the year tax burden would be greatly reduced...
The only one's with a downside would straight out tax attorneys.....
Everyone all at once.....AAAAWWWW!!!
NeverGore :^)
The Republican Party continues to be the party of ideas. Something drastic needs to be done if we are going to cope with the coming Social Security and Medicare crisis.
Awesome!
SUMMARY: ELIMINATES THE IRS
A completely new kind of federal tax is being proposed by Indiana Senator Richard Lugar that would radically change the way you and I pay taxes. This proposal is a retail sales tax and would eliminate the federal income tax and all the withholdings, exemptions and paperwork that go with it. Instead it would adopt a national sales tax much like state sales taxes already in use across the country. Consumers would pay the tax whenever they make a retail purchase. Excluding food and medical supplies is under debate; current proposals include these as taxable items. The national sales tax rate is proposed initially at 17%. The overall strategy is... instead of taxing what people earn, the government would tax what people spend to encourage savings and investment.
Advantages: NATIONAL SALES TAX
It would eliminate the income tax.
There would be no tax forms for citizens to fill out.
It would eliminate the need for the IRS. Tax revenues could be handled by the Treasury.
It would be administered just like current state sales taxes.
All taxes would be collected by retail businesses as they sell goods and services.
It would be very compatible with ever increasing electronic transactions like credit cards etc.
It would tax all citizens at the same rate so that only those who spent more would pay more taxes.
It would encourage savings and investment.
It completely eliminates the ability of political groups to interfere with economic issues of taxation for special political interests.
It would save the country an estimated $600 billion a year spent in complicated tax compliance.
It would collect taxes from everyone living in this country, including aliens and illegal aliens- adding billions of dollars to the nation's treasury.
It would tax the underground cash economy in the U.S. because people who currently evade taxes would be taxed equally when they bought goods and services.
Analysts say it could dramatically increase the tax revenue collected while reducing the impact on individual citizens.
The cost of compliance is estimated at only $1-5 billion per year for businesses, as much as 500 times less than the current system. However there is no cost of compliance for consumers.
Disadvantages:
It would place a greater burden on businesses, especially retail sales, to collect and be liable for the taxes.
Food and medicine are not exempt from sales taxes, having some impact on the poor and elderly.
It will NEVER happen. The tax lawyer lobby is too strong.
"This is a truly stupid post by DRUDGE. Hastert can wish all he wants, it doesn't mean a damn thing. To say this is a "centerpiece of the Bush/GOP agenda" is idiotic."
-- There were two pieces of info. in Drudge's post:
1. Inside sources tell him that the House GOP and Bush will push for elimination of the IRS.
2. In Rep. Hastert's new book, he states that we should have a NRST or a VAT.
Two different pieces of info.
They really have not "fallen off the tax rolls."
Roughly 25% of the retail price of every domestic good and service is a cleverly hidden "tax cost of government."
The NRST eliminates corporate taxes and eliminates this hidden tax on all consumers.
Low income folks fare very well with the Fair Tax.
Geezer, you are on! Do your thing!
What spending cuts have the Republicans promoted?
Me too, as long as it isn't a VAT. The VAT is an insidious tax, that by design is hidden from the consumers who ultimately pay it. I could support either a NRST or a flat tax, but the VAT is an abomination...
ugh no sales tax. that would really turn me away from the GOP
H.R. 25, the FairTax act (A national retail sales tax) restricts government spending by making the government pay the sales tax too.
Check out the plan at http://www.fairtax.org
Accomplishing that would mean standing up to the Democrats, and would reqire a degree of backbone that has been sadly lacking in this administration to date. It'll never happen. Not in my lifetime.
I recall reading last April that the IRS was having trouble collecting "due" taxes because of the immigrants and low income earners just not filing.
This is one way to get whatever amount they wish ...spread out across every dollar you spend. Now of course if bartering gets to come back in style then this idea won't work either.
What about the vast number of "married couples with 2 kids that make under $32,000" that fell off the tax rolls? I don't think they will like it.
ping
In the long run it always seemed that I only worked nights to generate a huge tax bill. My business ventures created attractive gross figures, but what was left for ME made ambition seem foolish and in the end I made far less being self-motivated than for being just another hamster on the wheel at my day job. Why bother?
I'll bust my rump working to better myself if I can really feel as if I DO better myself.
These are the seeds of prosperity, and everything the left hates.
He said that as a first response. Don't think he'd actually DO it, but how many others might?
>>The VAT could destroy our manufacturing base. <<
NAFTA is doing very well at that by itself.
Visibility with a VAT is not a huge issue; we could pass accomodating lagislation that the tax paid by quoted on a receipt. It was just that the EU decided to make it hidden. But a bigger issue with a VAT is that it distorts supply chains. Under a VAT, you don't pay taxes to yourself, but only when you buy something from somebody else. As a result, Companies under a VAT try and get their entire production process "under one roof" instead of buying outside the company.
I love the NRST tho. Go HR 25!
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