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FactCheck.org: “Democrats Misleadingly Suggest Widespread GOP Support for FairTax Bill Unlikely to Become Law”

FactCheck.org has called out President Biden, Chuck Schumer and the rest of the Democrats lying about the viability of the “Fair Tax,” a 30% national sales tax (not even including state and local sales taxes) that would create a new entitlement program and lead to a European-style Value Added Tax:

Few Republican lawmakers have publicly supported a bill to replace most federal taxes with a national sales tax, a plan that has almost no chance of becoming law, or even passing in the GOP-led House of Representatives — certainly not in the 118th Congress. 

But that has not stopped several Democratic leaders from suggesting that the bill has wide support among congressional Republicans.

As pointed out previously by Americans for Tax Reform, House GOP co-sponsorship of the Fair Tax Act is at a 20-year low. Support has cratered by two-thirds over the past decade.

As noted by FactCheck.org:

As of Jan. 27, the FairTax Act had 24 Republican co-sponsors. That is six fewer co-sponsors than the version Carter introduced in January 2021, during the 117th Congress — when the bill was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means but went no further. 

In a Jan. 25 post, John Kartch of the conservative Americans for Tax Reform, wrote that support in the House for the FairTax “has been dwindling for the past decade, dropping by two-thirds since 2013.”

In order to obtain the votes necessary to become House speaker, McCarthy, according to some news reports, promised some of his more conservative, FairTax-supporting detractors that he would bring the latest bill to the House floor for a vote. But another report, citing top Republican leaders, said McCarthy only promised the bill would receive a committee hearing, which does not guarantee the bill will advance to a vote by the full House.

Furthermore, McCarthy recently indicated that the bill does not have his support. On Jan. 24, when a CNN reporter asked him if he backs the FairTax Act, McCarthy said “no.”

In addition to McCarthy, Scalise, the No. 2 Republican in the House, has said he would not vote for the bill. That was after three Republican representatives from New York — Marc Molinaro, Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler — said they too opposed the effort to make the national sales tax law. Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana also has come out against the tax plan.

Since Republicans hold a slim 222-213 majority in the House, as few as five “no” votes from fellow Republicans could keep the bill from passing — if every Democrat also votes against it.

Fair Tax advocates claim the bill would “abolish the IRS” but in fact it creates at least three new tax bureaucracies: The Federal Excise Tax Bureau, The Federal Sales Tax Bureau, and the Office of Revenue Allocation.

No thanks.