THE CONSUMPTION TAX WORKS WELL IN EUROPE

House Republicans will now vote on ABOLISHING the IRS and replacing a national income tax with a consumption tax - after voting to strip agency of Biden-backed $72billion in funds for 87,000 new staff

Georgia Republican Rep. Buddy Carter will bring forth the Fair Tax Act that he says would remove the need for an IRS entirely by simplifying the tax code. It would replace the national corporate and personal income tax and other taxes with a single consumption tax 

 

By Morgan Phillips

 

Daily Mail

January 10, 2023

 

            Georgia Republican Rep. Buddy Carter will bring forth the Fair Tax Act that he says would remove the need for an IRS entirely by simplifying the tax code

 

The Republican-led House will vote on a bill to repeal the federal income tax and abolish the IRS altogether this Congress. 

Georgia Republican Rep. Buddy Carter will bring forth the Fair Tax Act that he says would remove the need for an IRS entirely by simplifying the tax code. It would replace the national corporate and personal income tax and other taxes with a single consumption tax. 

The bill also gets rid of the death, gift and payroll taxes. 

It further calls for repealing the 16th Amendment - which gives Congress the right to lay and collect taxes on incomes. 

A vote on the bill, which has 30 co-sponsors, was promised as part of a deal to get Kevin McCarthy the Speaker's gavel last week. It's not yet clear when the legislation will come to the House floor, but it's unlikely to become law. 

Proponents of a consumption tax argue that the system allows Americans to choose how much they pay in taxes by choosing how much they spend - thus incentivizing savings and investment. 

The bill comes on the heels of a vote Monday night to claw back $72billion of some $80billion in additional funding Democrats gave to the IRS last Congress, much of which is slated to hire 87,000 new IRS agents.

The IRS's fiscal year 2022 budget request was a mere $13billion.  

Neither bill is likely to find much traction in the Senate, where Democrats currently lead with a 51-48 majority. 

House Democrats are not taking the bill seriously. 'It's laughable,' Rep. Rosa DeLauro told reporters on Tuesday. 

Asked about DeLauro's comment, Carter told DailyMail.com: 'Our current tax system is a laughing stock, and the IRS is the butt of the joke. The only people with something to gain from maintaining a behemoth IRS are the bureaucracy-loving Washington Democrats, who want armed, unelected agents to have more control over your paycheck than you do.'

 

In a party-line vote Monday night, House Republicans passed a bill that would rescind $72billion in IRS funding that was passed by Democrats as part of the Inflation Reduction Act last year 

 

The inflation reduction act funded the IRS $80billion over 10 years, to replace members of the retiring workforce.  The 87,000 figure came from a Treasury Department assessment of how many IRS employees could be hired

 

The new audits were to offset some $739billion in mostly climate and social spending in the Inflation Reduction Act. 

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the GOP-approved bill would add around $114billion to the deficit. 

'This transforms the US tax code from a mandatory, progressive, and convoluted system to a fully transparent and unbiased system which does away with the IRS as we know it. It is good for our economy because it encourages work, savings, and investment,' said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., a co-sponsor of the legislation, in a statement.

Filing taxes in the US is far more costly and time-consuming than in other advanced economies - Americans spend 2.6billion hours and $209billion per year doing so, according to a 2022 estimate from the American Action Forum. 

David Williams of the Taxpayers' Protection Alliance chided Democrats for laughing at the proposal and said an IRS overhaul is 'long overdue.' 

'Being audited by the IRS is no joke. Complying with the massive tax code is nothing to smile at,' he told DailyMail.com. 

He said of the consumption tax idea: 'A consumption tax is very appealing because it simplifies the system and allows individuals and businesses more time and money to what they want, whether that be expanding their business or just enjoying personal time. But, whether it’s a consumption tax or another way to lessen the IRS’s influence, it’s clear that’s it time to rethink the US tax system.'