The Republican-controlled House of Representatives will vote on a bill that would abolish the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and eliminate the national income tax, replacing it with a national sales tax.
The Fair Tax Act, introduced by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) would eliminate national personal and corporate income taxes, as well as death, gift, and payroll taxes.
It would replace the current tax levying system with a plan that Carter claims would simplify the tax code and end the need for the IRS — which was slated to hire 87,000 new workers.
“Instead of adding 87,000 new agents to weaponize the IRS against small business owners and middle America, this bill will eliminate the need for the department entirely by simplifying the tax code with provisions that work for the American people and encourage growth and innovation,” Carter said in a press release.
“Armed, unelected bureaucrats should not have more power over your paycheck than you do,” he added.
Carter initially submitted the bill in January 2021, but it did not gain traction. The original co-sponsors included several other Republican congressmen, including Reps. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Gary Palmer (R-AL).
“As a former small business owner, I understand the unnecessary burden our failing income tax system has on Americans,” said Rep. Duncan in a statement. “The Fair Tax Act eliminates the tax code, replaces the income tax with a sales tax, and abolishes the abusive Internal Revenue Service. If enacted, this will invigorate the American taxpayer and help more Americans achieve the American Dream.”
Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), another co-sponsor, asserted that it would bolster the U.S. economy since “it encourages work, savings, and investment.”
The vote on the bill was agreed to in a deal between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and the House Freedom Caucus, who extracted concessions in exchange for supporting him in his quest for the speakership last week.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) was also among the bill’s co-sponsors.
However, political pundits suggest that the Fair Tax Act has little chance of becoming law as it would not have enough support in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
This comes soon after the Republican-led House voted 221-210 along party lines on a bill to rescind most of the $80 billion of taxpayer funds allocated to the IRS by Democrats in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
The Democrat-controlled Senate has expressed its intent to ignore the bill rescinding the additional funding.
The White House slammed House Republicans for the bills targeting the IRS, with President Biden alleging that “their top economic priority is to allow the rich and multi-billion dollar corporations to skip out on their taxes, while making life harder for ordinary, middle-class families that pay the taxes they owe.”
But new data from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) suggests that the IRS disproportionally targets low-income taxpayers rather than millionaires and billionaires.
“The taxpayer class with unbelievably high audit rates — five and a half times virtually everyone else — were low-income wage-earners taking the earned income tax credit,” the report stated.
“[T]hey are easy marks in an era when IRS increasingly relies upon correspondence audits yet doesn’t have the resources to assist taxpayers or answer their questions,” it continued.
