carter told Fox Business On Tuesday, he said people would “rather have a sales tax” if given the choice.
“You’ll actually be able to see what you’re actually making in your paycheck every week,” Rep. Andrew S. Clyde, a Republican, another supporter of the bill, said earlier this month. rice field.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Republican, California) on Tuesday seemed to react When asked if he supported the Fair Tax Act, he simply said “no.” Representatives for Carter and McCarthy did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
In an op-ed this week in The Atlantic, anti-tax conservative Grover Norquist criticized the reintroduction of the Fair Tax Act as a “free gift to Democrats,” allowing it to force a small minority of House Republicans to vote. He warned Republicans not to. that.
Norquist also expressed concern that such a national sales tax, and the accompanying monthly sales tax rebates for U.S. citizens, would essentially create a universal basic income.
“The ad you can run is someone wants to add 30% sales tax. [prices], which would be devastating to the middle-income class. It’s a pretty sketchy ad,” Norquist told Hill.
These ads were effectively launched in the form of a series of attacks from the Democrats and the White House. At a joint press conference on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) lashed out at the Fair Tax Act, citing nearly all He said it would lead to a dramatic tax increase for Americans. , placing a special burden on the elderly and “exploding” social security.
“So-called ‘Fair Tax Laws’ are unfair, unconscionable, and un-American. 90% of Americans, working families, middle-class people, seniors, people who want to be part of the middle class, poor people. It would impose dramatic tax increases on people, the sick and the suffering,” Schumer said. He said.
Jeffries pointed out that older Americans who had already paid income tax into the system their entire lives would be “double and triple taxed” by the national sales tax.
“This law is extreme and functionally Republican Tax Fraud, Part 2,” Jeffries said. “We will expose it and … do everything we can to stop it.”
Mr. Schumer said such a “outrageous” plan would never pass the Senate as long as he remains the leader of the House majority. He also defended the Democrats’ impassioned and early warnings that even if the bill were almost certainly scrapped, the plan could still gain momentum within the Republican Party, with support from far-right Republicans. He said that
“Everyone thought McCarthy would never go with the MAGA Republicans when he ran for chairman,” Schumer said, adding that McCarthy was a far-right holdout in his bid for the chairmanship. He mentioned the concessions he made to him. “I have not underestimated the power of these extreme MAGA Republicans over McCarthy. I support it.”
President Biden is expected to make the proposal a mainstay of his economic speech in Virginia on Thursday. The White House has already regularly attacked Republicans for proposing changes to Medicare and Social Security and for trying to paint Republicans as far removed from the average American.
“They’re financially insane,” Mr. Biden said of Republicans at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event last week.
Sporadic support for the Fair Tax Act among Republicans is a testament to last year’s Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida)’s 11-point plan to save America, which includes a proposal for all Americans. It recalls the tensions within the Senate Republican Party after announcing the Plan. After Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) proposed to abolish Social Security and Medicare as federal eligibility programs and instead convert them to programs approved by Congress each year as discretionary spending.
Both proposals drew criticism from several prominent Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters bluntly that Republicans “will not have a bill on the agenda that will raise taxes on half of the American people and see the sun go down.” Social Security and Medicare within 5 years. ”
