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The latest: Democrats hammer GOP plan to impose national sales tax, abolish IRS

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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Democrats are seizing on a Republican proposal to impose a national sales tax and abolish the Internal Revenue Service as a cudgel against the GOP, even though the bill has few fans even among Republican lawmakers.
As Amy B Wang reports, the Fair Tax Act, sponsored by Rep. Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.) and introduced earlier this month, would do away with income, payroll, estate and gift taxes, and instead impose a 23 percent national sales tax. It would also eliminate funding for the IRS after fiscal year 2027.
Carter told “Fox Business” on Tuesday that people would “much rather have a consumption tax” when given a choice.
“You would actually get to see … what you’re actually earning every week in your paycheck,” Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.), another supporter of the bill, said this month.
But other Republicans are not so keen on these ideas. As Amy writes:
On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) appeared to respond to a question about whether he supported the Fair Tax Act by telling reporters, simply, “No.” Representatives for Carter and McCarthy did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
In an op-ed for the Atlantic this week, anti-tax conservative Grover Norquist criticized the reintroduction of the Fair Tax Act as “a free gift to Democrats” and warned the GOP against allowing a small minority of House Republicans to force a vote on it.
Norquist also expressed concern that such a national sales tax, and its accompanying monthly sales tax rebates for U.S. citizens, would essentially create a universal basic income.
And Democrats are already using this plan against the GOP, in the form of lines of attack:
In a joint news conference Wednesday, Senate Majority Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) blasted the Fair Tax Act, saying that it would result in dramatic tax hikes for almost every American, create a particular burden for seniors and “detonate” Social Security. … Jeffries pointed out that older Americans who had already throughout their lives paid into the system through income taxes would be “double and triple taxed” by a national sales tax. … Schumer said such a “doozy” of a plan would never pass the Senate, as long as he was majority leader in the chamber. He also defended Democrats’ ardent and early warnings — even though the bill is almost certain to die — saying that it remained a possibility that the plan could gain traction within the GOP with the support of hard-right Republicans.
Read more on this plan here.
 
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