Asheville – Many Americans have called for abolishing the IRS and creating a new tax plan. That time might finally have come. The plan is called the FairTax, and it’s getting a lot of attention from legislators and several Presidential candidates. In fact, the members of Congress who support the FairTax said they would not vote for Congressman Kevin McCarthy for Speaker of the House of Representatives unless he brought bill H.R. 25—the FairTax Act of 2023—up for a vote. This means that the FairTax will be voted on for the first time since its inception on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Today, the average person in the U.S. has to work three months of the year just to pay their federal income taxes. This doesn’t include state income tax, corporate income tax, death tax, gift tax, luxury tax, payroll taxes that are used to help fund Medicare and social security, property tax, sales tax, self-emplyment tax, penalties, or the hidden taxes in the products we purchase.
“The current model of payroll taxation collects approximately 40% of the revenue for the government coffers,” according to Steve Hayes, President of Americans for Fair Taxation (AFFT). In addition, according to a study by the IRS commissioner done in 2021, the current system also loses $1 Trillion in unpaid taxes every year. The agency “lacks the resources to go after the tax cheats.” The FairTax would solve that problem.
The FairTax: A Consumption-Based Solution
The Fairtax does away with the IRS; there would no longer be a need for the service as there would no longer be federal income or payroll taxes. Imagine not having to go through the angst of preparing and filing your taxes every April, and the vast amounts of paper it would save, not to mention audits.
I caught up with AFFT’s Steve Hayes recently, and he explained how the FairTax works: “It is completely a consumption tax, a sales tax on purchases of new items. That distinction is important; there is no tax on used or wholesale items.” Hayes explained, “Using a model of a national retail sales tax means that you get to keep all of your paycheck. It means that the power of taxation is effectively transferred to you, not some bureaucrat in Washington, DC, where some well-intentioned but off-target member of Congress is going to come up with a plan that takes away your money through a tax change. You’re going to be in charge. The National Retail Sales Tax would be imposed on every retail purchase of new items.”
A Fair System: Empowering Individuals and Eliminating Payroll Taxes
What this means is that each individual or family can determine how much they pay in taxes based on how they choose to make their purchases. It also means everyone who spends money in the U.S. would pay the same taxes, including people from other countries who vacation here or live here part of the year like many Canadians do, as well as businesses from other countries. The burden no longer falls on only the American people, and in fact, for the first time, people could see what the true cost of running the government is, reducing corruption.
The national tax sounds high at first, and opponents—those who use taxes as a negotiating tool—like to use that as an excuse, but Americans are already paying more in taxes without the benefits.
The Potential of the FairTax: Economic Growth and Job Creation
Laura McCue, CEO and President of White Oak Financial Management, on Hendersonville Rd., and North Carolina FairTax State Leader, said she first read the book about FairTax on a flight across the country in the ‘90s. She said, “By the end of the flight, I was all in. It made so much sense.” McCue also stated, “It would make the U.S. the greatest tax haven ever. Every company would want to have their business in the U.S., even foreign businesses, because it would be so lucrative—no payroll taxes, no loopholes, no high costs for tax accountants and lawyers. It would also create a powerful jobs market and competition, lowering final costs to the consumer.”
A Prebate for Lower-Income Families: Ensuring Fairness
To make the FairTax work for people with lower incomes, under $40,000, there would be a prebate given. This would basically be like the current standard deduction, except these people would receive a check at the beginning of each month to cover the higher sales tax for expected purchases. If they choose to buy previously owned items with no tax attached, they can keep the unused portion of the prebate for other expenses.
Success Stories: State Sales Tax Models
Some of the largest economies, like the states of Florida, Texas, and Tennessee, are already doing this with their state sales tax. They have no state income tax, just a higher sales tax, and they are flourishing.
Go to FairTax.org to learn more, and if you like the idea, let your legislators know.