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REPUBLICANS PLAN PUSH FOR ELIMINATION OF IRS
The Drudge Report ^ | 8/1/04 | Drudge

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."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: fairtax; gop; gwb2004; irs; nrst; taxreform
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To: dubyaismypresident
I've always preferred the idea of the flat tax. But if this measure would eliminate the IRS (with no VAT tax), the GDP would just go right off the charts. It would lower the cost of doing business in the United States. Foreign companies would increase their investments in the United States. Outsourcing would be outstripped by "in-sourcing."

Here's another plus that most of us haven't thought of: the subterranean economy, which is estimated to be as large as $1.5 Trillion per year would be taxed. Businesses that work "off the books" would be less of a problem, because the money gets taxed when it's spent. A lot of it would still leave the country because people send it home to Asia and Central and South America, but if the money is off the books we don't see it anyway.

Sounds like an idea that needs to get some serious discussion. I can't wait to see the likes of the left try to stammer their way through this argument!
181 posted on 08/01/2004 7:43:15 PM PDT by Uncle Vlad
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To: Remember_Salamis

It's about time the geniuses at the GOP figured this out. They should have been running an anti-IRS campaign since '92.

Good job, you brainiacs! Glad to see some thought over there!


182 posted on 08/01/2004 7:43:41 PM PDT by ovrtaxt (The Fleet Center? Isn't Fleet an enema company?)
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To: Remember_Salamis

My comment was really meant to be tongue-in-cheek (although it rings truer the second time through).


183 posted on 08/01/2004 7:43:58 PM PDT by YankeeDoodleBoy
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To: YankeeDoodleBoy

"That's a terrific idea on the tax side, and I am all for it. I'm not sure, however, that it qualifies as a spending cut. The Government will either find ways to exempt itself, or if all else fails print more money for itself. Spending cuts have to be specific and significant."

-- As it stands, HR 25 and S 1493 have it written in to the legislation that government would pay taxes.


184 posted on 08/01/2004 7:44:01 PM PDT by Remember_Salamis (Freedom is Not Free)
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To: Beelzebubba

"Agreed. let the hookers and drug dealers pay their fair share!"

-- And the illegal immigrants who would find it much harder to stay in the states. Here's a piece I wrote on the FairTax and it's affect on illegal immigration:

"Currently, it is extremely lucrative to employ illegal immigrants because they essentially work tax-free and are paid under the table. Under current law, an illegal being paid $10/hour in cash is equivalent to a legal worker being paid anywhere from $12-14/hour (15.3% in payroll taxes plus whatever the marginal tax rate is). Under the FairTax, it won’t matter; both workers would make the same because there are no taxes. And since there are penalties for hiring illegal immigrants, employers would naturally choose legal workers if there is no price difference. In addition, the illegal worker would not receive a monthly tax prebate because he has no Social Security number, making life in America much harder. As a result, there is a much larger incentive to migrate here legally and a large tax burden for migrating to the US illegally."


185 posted on 08/01/2004 7:46:09 PM PDT by Remember_Salamis (Freedom is Not Free)
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To: Starve The Beast
The press's problem is the internet, and namely, fairtax.org.
186 posted on 08/01/2004 7:46:25 PM PDT by ovrtaxt (The Fleet Center? Isn't Fleet an enema company?)
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To: arielb
Think it through, ariel. Follow the links below to get more information about the NRST and the Fair Tax.

“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” [Thomas Jefferson, letter to Benjamin Rush, 1800.]

Click here and here to help us scrap the Code, scrap the IRS and abolish the VLWC!

You can also click here to sign a petition in support of Fundamental Tax Replacement.

We will never be a truly FRee people so long as we have the income tax and the IRS.

187 posted on 08/01/2004 7:46:28 PM PDT by Taxman (So that the beautiful pressure does not diminish!)
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To: Taxman

I didn't have you confused.....my reference was not that you like tax attorney's but to join me in mocking them....

NeverGore :^)


188 posted on 08/01/2004 7:46:56 PM PDT by nevergore (“It could be that the purpose of my life is simply to serve as a warning to others.”)
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To: Remember_Salamis
HR 25 and S 1493 have it written in to the legislation that government would pay taxes...

1. Where would the government get the money to pay taxes? Their only stream of income is taxing us.

2. What are the consequences if the government is unable to pay its taxes? Would it eliminate services, cut payroll, shut down parts of itself, or simply raise more income (i.e., raise taxes; see question #1)?

189 posted on 08/01/2004 7:47:12 PM PDT by YankeeDoodleBoy
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To: Remember_Salamis

No. I work in a retail business (restaurant). The burden of taxation will be focused on people like me.


190 posted on 08/01/2004 7:47:13 PM PDT by arielb
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To: arielb

Not true. Read here:

http://www.fairtax.org/pdfs/theundergroundeconomy.pdf


191 posted on 08/01/2004 7:47:50 PM PDT by Remember_Salamis (Freedom is Not Free)
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To: Lunatic Fringe
It will NEVER happen. The tax lawyer lobby is too strong.

Right, besides do we want to pay 20% VAT (on the top of state sale tax) on ALL services, goods food and medicine like Europeans do ?

192 posted on 08/01/2004 7:48:22 PM PDT by Anticommie
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To: Non-Sequitur

We the People, the American voters can provide the needed backbone for our politicians.

They get religion big time when faced with the posssibility of defeat in the next election cycle.

We outnumber the Bastards, and we can sendem home whenever we get the backbone to do so!

November is the time to do so!


193 posted on 08/01/2004 7:49:06 PM PDT by Taxman (So that the beautiful pressure does not diminish!)
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To: undeniable logic
"The switch benefits young people, like myself, and hurts those at or near retirement - unless some sort of compensation is included."

Retirees with sizable retirement plans that haven't yet been taxed yet may not be disadvantaged (as long as they are subject only to a sales tax when spent). This is not a small group.
194 posted on 08/01/2004 7:49:49 PM PDT by labard1
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To: arielb

I own a retail business. The burden is already focused on people like me.


195 posted on 08/01/2004 7:50:46 PM PDT by ovrtaxt (The Fleet Center? Isn't Fleet an enema company?)
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To: arielb

****so you want a tax increase? and no the drug dealers won't pay a sales tax either. heck a lot of people avoid state and local sales taxes already by simply paying things in cash. I work in retail-I see this happen all the time.***


No---These people pay NO INCOME TAX. With a National Sales tax they would be forced to. I am sick and tired of the underground economy not paying their share while I pay mine. You can't avoid paying sales taxes by paying in cash. I work retail they have to pay taxes just not income taxes.


196 posted on 08/01/2004 7:50:47 PM PDT by CloudyI
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To: dubyaismypresident

Never happen. Too many hand in the cookie jar dependent upon the system as it now is. If they make this part of the campaign it will through many millions of votes to the Rats.


197 posted on 08/01/2004 7:51:05 PM PDT by mercy
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To: YankeeDoodleBoy

Agree. We still need to make our government run more efficiently and at less cost. You have to eliminate entire programs, agencies, and departments. Unfortunately, with Congress you have the fox guarding the chicken house.


198 posted on 08/01/2004 7:51:48 PM PDT by kabar
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To: dubyaismypresident

I agree. A Value Added Tax would be a disaster but I'm all for a National Sales Tax.


199 posted on 08/01/2004 7:51:55 PM PDT by pgkdan
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To: Anticommie

How long until you retire from the IRS?


200 posted on 08/01/2004 7:52:04 PM PDT by TexasTransplant (I made my Fortune selling Sugar Coated Cat Turds on a Stick at the DNC Convention)
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