This hit me like a ton of bricks! Some may not have heard it. Everyone should know.

[Atticus]

McCarthy and the---"people"--- in his party are preparing to propose A 30% NATIONAL SALES TAX!

This type of tax is just about the most unfair method of funding the government that one could devise. The percentage of their income that poor people will pay FOR NECESSITIES---food, clothes, etc.--- will be many times higher than what millionaires will pay!

My first reaction was "How could they be that stupid?", but isn't that what we said about Trump's chances in 2016?

This needs to be hung around their neck with some factual examples of what it will mean for the poor, middle income and wealthy.

[Poiuyt]

1. I think even Grover Norquist called this a gift to Biden and the Democrats

[FoxNewsSucks]

2. They want to use that to abolish the IRS, end payroll taxes and end the estate tax.

Defund Social Security, and let massive estates grow untaxed. Those are their real end goals.

[AZ8theist]

16. Three words...

D. O. A.

[FoxNewsSucks]

21. I hope.

But they'll never give up.

[Elessar Zappa]

36. It'll never pass.

[dweller]

3. If this doesn't

Call for a Nationwide Walk-Out Strike … I don’t know what will .

Hit them where it hurts, in the pocketbook


✌🏻

[Throck]

4. I think the Value Added Tax in England is 20%

Canada has a GST federal tax of 5%.

[DFW]

32. Do the Shires of England have the right to impose their own local sales tax?

In the USA, each state can impose its own local sales tax if it wants to, and not do so if they desire. In most (if not all—I’d have to verify this) EU states, as well as non-members Switzerland and Norway, VAT is imposed only at the federal level, not both.

[Ocelot II]

5. It won't pass, but that's a horribly regressive tax.

Which is why GOPers like it.

[phoenix75]

6. And the odds of this making its way through the Senate

and being signed by Biden would be about the same as me flying to the moon in a telephone booth.
Just sayin ....

[RealityChik]

7. Never happen, but good way to own the Libs!

We all know this will never get through the Senate, but they know they can piss off a whole lotta Libs just by working it in Congress. They know it will get a lot of press as an added bonus!

[Bev54]

8. 30%?????

We have a federal (GST) sales tax in Canada of 6% and many provinces have their own sales tax from 0-7% (I live in a 0 province) but 30% sounds a little high. Do they mean 3%? Our sales tax originally was put into place to cover our healthcare, although it all goes into one pot now, once you get it, it will never leave.

[LeftInTX]

10. In Texas, sales tax varies from 6.25-8.25%

We have 8.25% where I live

[peppertree]

23. They really do mean 30%

That's what it would take to replace revenues from eliminating income and capital gains taxes.

The 30% would, of course, be on top of state sales taxes - which currently average 7% (plus any city/county sales taxes).

The wealthy, as you know, often spend 10% of their income (or less). The poor and working class, in turn, often pay no federal income tax (after refunds); they would now, and how.

And those two factors are what make the idea so blatantly unfair.

But then, that's their specialty.

[Javaman]

9. Ah yes, they are resurrecting the old flat tax

This is just another variation to screw the poor and the middle class.

[live love laugh]

11. They need to raise more money to steal from the government.

[MiniMe]

18. It's who they are raising the money from

NOT from the rich who have been getting all kind of tax breaks which has only added to the deficit, but from the poor and middle class. The poor and middle class spend a lot on necessities, and for that to be taxed at 30% is back breaking. The rich don't spend that much on big ticket items, and it isn't a huge portion on their income.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

12. The ads will almost write themselves.

Major political self-own.

[BSdetect]

13. When the UK started their VAT it rose from about 10% to 18% rapidly

30% is sheer madness.

[usonian]

14. If memory serves me

Too much.

[KPN]

15. I hope they do it. It will be the end of the Republican Party.

[brooklynite]

17. Meh.

It'll be a symbolic vote. It won't even be brought up in the Senate.

[vlyons]

19. I laughed a big belly laugh about this one

So here's their "logic." There's a lot more poor and middle class people than there are million/billionaires, soooooooooo ---

The current 118th congress will forever be known as the Stupid Congress.

So folks, get well stocked up on pop-corn

[Ilsa]

20. They really are trying to destroy the economy.

Of course, they'll exempt luxury items.

[BadgerMom]

22. Joe Biden is a fine statesman and a great politician.

These Republicans are neither statesmen (puh-leeze) or good at politics. Honestly, I have high hopes that Biden and the party under his leadership could use this information to great advantage. Please proceed, Congressmen and -women.

[Ford_Prefect]

24. They do not care because the tax breaks they pile up for the rich are a form of money laundering

which in turn pours funds into their campaigns.

[aggiesal]

25. As I see it, (R)'s want to get rid of the IRS, payroll taxes, SS & MC ...

To make up all that money lost, everyone will pay 30% federal sales tax on everything you buy.
That means no tax deductions on SALT, or mortgage interest or business write-offs or ...
And you can bet that the elderly will be living on the streets and eating cat food like the 1920's & 30's, since SS will no longer exist.

Of course we all know that 30% on the wealthy means nothing but 30% means not being able to buy essentials on the poor and middle class.

There are going to be black markets popping up on just about every consumable imaginable.

[ShazzieB]

28. I think you have it about right, except...

There won't be any black markets, because to become law, this would have to be passed by both the House and the Senate, and also not get vetoed by Joe Biden. Which is not going to appen, period, full stop.

The GOPigs can pass any b.s. in the House they want, but with Dems controlling both the Senate and the White House, they'll be like a flock of chickens squawking, making a lot of noise and accomplishing absolutely nothing. (Actually, the chickens would be more productive; they might lay a few eggs while they're doing all that squawking.)

It's good to be aware of their ccockamamie schemes, but imo, we don't need to lose any sleep over this kind of malarkey. Not while Brandon is potus!

[aggiesal]

35. I agree. This was more of a scenario if the (R)'s got rid of the IRS ...

and implemented the 30% sales tax.

[Backseat Driver]

30. I know what you meant, but have you priced pet foods lately?

I see today that Amazon will be phasing out by Feb 20, 2023, the personal choice AmazonSmile program in which one could pick their favorite charities that sign up to participate. Now Amazon will choose.

Mine had been a very active one in central Ohio that maintained a very active volunteer-based participation helping local senior clients and their pets. I empathize so much and feel very lucky I can still maintain the needs of my furbabies, but I can envision the day when I could easily become one of their seniors and a beneficiary of their services. Yeah, I know our rural areas in central Ohio are full of red hats, but this group has a great mission and works hard at fulfilling it. Boo on Amazon for shutting down this avenue of funding their mission(s).

So everyone can see what they do for seniors, their families, and their pets, I offer their link: https://www.hospets.org/

[aggiesal]

34. I think you got to claim the tax deduction for the donation ...

now Amazon gets to claim the deduction.

And yes I have 2 cats.

[jmowreader]

26. It's worse than you think

This is the abominable “fair tax” - a tax on new goods only.

Which means a five year old Rolls-Royce transfers tax free, and a new Kia transfers with a 30 percent tax added to the price. In essence this will destroy the retail and manufacturing sectors because who’d buy new under those circumstances?

[Bayard]

27. Jeebus!

Hadn't heard that one yet. Completely shouty-crackers.



No way it will happen, but--Oh, the ads we can write!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

29. low income people will figure out that it hurts them, even in red states

[DFW]

31. VAT is Government heroin

It gets leveled at every point of production, initially leaves a government flush with cash, but it gets spent or wasted (for the government and by the government), and so, like the heroin addict, they always need more, more, and more. Republican taker states might love it, since it would permanently disguise that they are taker states. Mississippi could now proudly say, “we’re not taking New York’s money, we’re taking what’s rightfully ours: America’s money!”

People who live in States with their own state sales taxes would have to figure out whether or not to impose them in addition to a national VAT. This would hit (mostly) Democratic giver states hard, since they could never balance their budgets when a Republican-run government decides to take 30% of their sales revenue, and give back nothing. It would create a LOT of very poor people in a big hurry. In theory, a national VAT assumes a huge degree of benevolence on the part of the federal government. If there is anyone who assumes a huge degree of benevolence on the part of ANY current Republican member of the House or Senate, I have a large stretch of oceanfront property in Kansas to sell you. Payment in gold bullion, UBS Zürich, please. The US dollar won’t be a negotiable currency after we we wreck its credibility in that manner.

This will never fly, fortunately, as long as we have common sense Democrats to shoot it down, whether in the Senate or the White House. Even Republican House members from giver states will use a calculator and figure out that the shoe next to them is not walking alongside them in conservative solidarity, but is instead preparing to get shoved so far up their ass that it will come out of their mouth.

But let us never get complacent. Republicans know full well that their intentions are not well-meant. There is a very good reason they are constantly working on measures to restrict voting rights, and that the Opus Dei gang on the Supreme Court will back their efforts to do so. If a majority of voters knows your intended policies will harm them, what is the simplest remedy? Take away the voting rights of enough of them to make them a minority. Next time Herschel Walker runs for Senate—from anywhere—he wins, and if he doesn’t, he wins anyway. God wills it, along with all the Werewolves of London (ahooooo!).

Am I getting a little far from the subject of a 30% VAT? Only slightly. A 30% VAT (40% within five years, wanna bet?) would quickly enrich the government bureaucracy, and impoverish a majority of the population, which would then become dependent on the largesse of the federal government for their survival. That’s fine if Congress is made up of acolytes of the Dalai Lama. But it isn’t and never will be. There is a reason that cults run by control freaks demand that their members surrender all material possessions to the leadership. It is how control is established and maintained. Today’s Republican Party is well on the way to becoming such a cult. I have no interest in joining.

[no_hypocrisy]

33. Didn't Steve Forbes propose something like this in the Eighties?

I stand corrected: in 2017, Forbes argued AGAINST a national sale tax as well as TFG.

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