Topics in the News: Sales Tax
John McCain on Tax Reform
: Nov 28, 2007
We need a simpler, fairer tax code, but not FairTax
Q: Do you support the elimination of the federal income tax in favor of a national retail sales tax, also known as the FairTax?A: I do not, and I think we should look very carefully at it.
Obviously, we need a simpler, fairer tax code. If Congress can't fix the tax code, give me the job and I'll fix it.
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP YouTube debate in St. Petersburg, Florida
Mike Huckabee on Tax Reform
: Nov 18, 2007
FairTax is 23%; Bush's study missed prebate & other aspects
Q: You want to set up what you call a FairTax.A: Right.
Q: This would be a sales tax of 23% on almost every good and service you buy or anyone buys. But a bipartisan panel named by President Bush say to raise enough money, the rate would have to be
34%.
A: They didn't really study the FairTax. They simply studied a type of consumption tax, not the actual proposal that was designed by some of the leading economists in this country. It is a rate of 23%. It's not 30% or 34%,
as some of the critics complain.
Q: They said that a FairTax would reduce the tax burden on only two groups, those making less than $30,000 a year, because there's a rebate for people under the poverty line, and those making more than $200,000 a year.
So the rich and the poor do better, but the vast middle class ends up paying more taxes.
A: They had a fatal flaw. They didn't understand that the "prebate" applies to everybody, including the middle class. Everybody comes off better off.
Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.
Source: Fox News Sunday: 2007 "Choosing the President" interviews
Mike Huckabee on Tax Reform
: Sep 5, 2007
FairTax eliminates all taxes on productivity & saving
Q: You may be the biggest supporter of the FairTax on this stage, that you say replace the income tax with a 23% national sales tax. Now, back in 2005, Pres. Bush's Tax Reform Commission did a study about the FairTax. They said the sales tax rate would
have to be 34%, not 23%, & that no state, no country, has ever put in a 34% sales tax. The commission says that with a FairTax that high, there are only two income groups that would benefit--those making less than $30,000 a year & those making more than
$200,000.A: The Bush tax panel did not look at the FairTax proposal. They looked at something that called itself that, but it was not. The true FairTax proposal is the 23%. And it empowers everyone in the economy, not just the people at the bottom
and the very top, but all of the middle class, which is a desperate need. What we would do with the FairTax is to eliminate all the taxes on productivity. You wouldn't be penalized for saving, earning, for having a capital gain, making an investment.
Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP debate at UNH, sponsored by Fox News
Mike Huckabee on Tax Reform
: Aug 26, 2007
Attacked as tax-and-spend by several anti-tax groups
The conservative Club for Growth ran ads attacking you as a tax-and-spender during your years as governor of Arkansas. One ad said, "Higher sales taxes. Gas taxes. Grocery taxes. Even higher taxes on nursing home beds." The fact is, you did sign those
tax increases. You did allow a 17% sales tax increase.A: I have to be a little flattered that the Club for Growth targeted me with $100,000 of ads. But there are nuances of a state government--I'm quite proud of having navigated a ship through trouble
waters in Arkansas.
Q: It's not just the Club for Growth. The Cato Institute gave you a "D" on taxes for your 10 years as governor. Americans for Tax Reform said that state spending during your first 8 years as governor increased by 65%.
A:
But if you look at our state spending, budgeting during my time as governor increased about 0.5% a year. When you look at the things that I actually had control [over, you would ignore] these wild accusations that I'm a tax and spender.
Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.
Source: Fox News Sunday: 2007 "Choosing the President" interviews
Tom Tancredo on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Co-sponsored FairTax because income tax manipulates behavior
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax and capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: The reason why we absolutely need to go to something like a FairTax--and I am a co-sponsor.
And by the way, if you don't understand how it would work, I would suggest to you that you read Neil Boortz's book and John Linder's. It's a perfect explanation of how it works. But the most important reason to move from an income tax to a
FairTax is because an income tax is designed to manipulate behavior. It gives the government the power to manipulate your behavior. "I reward you for the things I want you to do by giving you a tax cut. I penalize you for the things
I don't want you to do by raising your taxes." That is too much power for the federal government. It is always going to be an overreach of power.
Click for Tom Tancredo on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Sam Brownback on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Supports optional flat tax in income tax; not FairTax
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax and capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: I think we need to move toward an optional flat tax. I think we need to go to flat taxes.
And let me just say why. We've got a problem with the current tax code and we've tried to take it out. And every time you try to take it out, everybody comes to defend it that has something in it.
You can put an optional flat tax in the tax code and let people choose. And it will create economic growth. That's why 16 countries have already gone to a flat tax: It creates growth.
Growth is the key for us in this economy for us to get things moving forward.
Q: OK, but you're against the fair tax
Click for Sam Brownback on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
John McCain on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Make tax reform commission & vote yes-or-no on outcome
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax and capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: I believe that we've got to simplify the tax code. But one of the first areas we've got to go after
is the alternate minimum tax, which is going to eat in to 20 million American families if we don't eliminate it, and very quickly. Look, when we found out that Congress could not close a single military base when we had a huge number of them,
we appointed a commission and they said we would close so many bases, and Congress votes up or down. I would find [someone like former Federal Reserve Chairman] Alan Greenspan. I'd say, "Give us your recommendations." We'll pass a law, and we
will vote on Alan Greenspan and his commission's recommendations, yes or no, up or down. That's the way you're going to simplify the tax code, which now requires $140 billion of American families' income to prepare their tax returns.
Click for John McCain on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Mitt Romney on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Commission studied FairTax and found serious flaws
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax and capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: It's good, but it's not that good. There are a lot of features that are very attractive about a
FairTax. Getting rid of the IRS is something we'd all love. But the truth is, we're going to have to pay taxes. Completely throwing out our tax system and coming up with an entirely new one is something we have to do very, very carefully.
The president's commission on tax reform looked at this and said: Not a good idea. Some of the reasons are the FairTax, for instance, charges a 23% tax, plus state sales tax, on a new home, when you purchase a new home. But if you buy an old home,
there's no tax. Think what that might do to the construction industry. We need to thoroughly take it apart before we make a change of that nature. That's why my view is, get rid of the tax on savings and let middle-income people save their money tax-free
Click for Mitt Romney on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Mike Huckabee on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Tax system penalizes productivity; needs complete overhaul
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax and capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: I absolutely support the FairTax.
And part of the reason is, the current system is one that penalizes productivity. If we could have the FairTax, you take $10 trillion parked offshore, bring it home, you rebuild the "Made in America" brand, you free up people to earn money, to work,
you don't penalize them for taking a second job, you don't penalize them for investing, you don't penalize them for savings.
Today, our tax system doesn't need a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver, it needs a complete overhaul. And what the
FairTax does, it ends the underground economy. No more illegals, no more gamblers, prostitutes, pimps and dope dealers will be able to escape the tax code. It's the single great thing that will help this country [achieve a] revitalized economy.
Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Rudy Giuliani on Tax Reform
: Aug 5, 2007
Too complex to get to FairTax; focus on reducing taxes
Q: The FairTax would eliminate the income tax, estate tax, payroll tax & capital gains tax and replace it with a 23% sales tax. Do you support it?A: I would say the most sensible thing to do is to simplify the tax code, reduce taxes, keep taxes low.
I think the flat tax and the FairTax are both very intriguing. And if we were starting off at the very beginning with taxation, the first argument I would make is let's not have any taxes. The second argument I would make is the
FairTax or the flat tax would probably be a better way to go.
Q: But you're not for the FairTax now, correct?
A: It would be too complex to get there. And somebody would have to show me how we're going to make that transition. And, also, the thought
that there wouldn't be an IRS with the FairTax--well, who is going to administer the sales tax? And who's going to administer the people that are exempt from the sales tax? And who is going to administer what items might be exempt from the sales tax?
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: 2007 GOP Iowa Straw Poll debate
Mike Gravel on Tax Reform
: Jun 28, 2007
Tax code is corrupt & serves the wealthy
The tax code stands that high and there's not a human being alive that understands it. Do you think it's accident that all of a sudden we wake up & the wealthy aren't paying a fair share? The only way they're going to pay a fair share is wipe out the
income tax--it is corrupt, it's corrupting our society--and begin to put in place a tax that everybody will know what everybody's paying, and that's a retail sales tax. You can make it progressive. A tax where everybody will know what everybody is paying
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: 2007 Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University
Mike Huckabee on Tax Reform
: May 15, 2007
FactCheck: FairTax requires 34% sales tax +$600B entitlement
Huckabee praised a "FairTax" without noting that it would actually impose a stiff retail sales tax & ease the tax burden on the richest Americans:"A FairTax would eliminate the alternative minimum tax, personal income tax, corporate tax, & al
the various taxes that are hidden in our system & Americans don't realize what they're paying."
The FairTax proposes a "prebate" to soften its impact on low-income persons--a monthly check for the amount of tax paid up to the poverty level.
But any sales tax also would lower taxes for those upper-income persons who save large portions of income that would be taxed under current law.Pres. Bush's bipartisan Advisory Panel on Tax Reform rejected the idea, saying it would substantially
increase taxes for 80% of taxpayers. The panel calculated that a sales tax would have to be set at 34% of retail prices, and the monthly cash prebate would amount to the largest entitlement program in history, at least $600 billion per year.
Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.
Source: FactCheck.org on 2007 Republican Debate in South Carolina
Rudy Giuliani on Tax Reform
: Mar 26, 2007
Lowering sales taxes creates jobs
The more ways that we can find to put money back into the private economy, the more our economy grows. The money gets used to create jobs. I used to be a big advocate of lowering the sales tax in New York, because right around New York we have states tha
don't have a sales tax. We lose an incredible amount of business to those states. If we did away with the sales tax in New York, it would be a jobs program for New York. We'd make back a lot of that tax through the income tax [via the] growing economy.
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: Interview on "Kudlow & Company", RealClearPolitics.com
Mike Gravel on Tax Reform
: Feb 21, 2007
National sales tax; no exceptions; prebates for essentials
The income tax has been gamed by the wealthy people. I for the Fair Tax [national sales tax]. The essentials of life that we have -- food, lodging, medicine, what have you -- we can deal with that. We can't provide an exception.
When you go to the grocery store, you'll pay the tax on it. Because if you start giving an exception, then Katy bar the door, the wealthy will game the system again. But what we can do is create a prebate.
Determine what the average cost of essential is to average American, and then turn it around and multiply that by the tax, take the amount of tax, divide it by 12, and send every single registered American a check at the beginning of the month to
cover what he would pay in the way of taxes on the essentials of life. Now that creates a cash flow, and then you go get your paycheck, and there's no tax deductions at the federal level.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: 2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Carson City Nevada
John Cox on Tax Reform
: Feb 7, 2007
National sales tax doesn't hit the poor
Q. What are your plans for the Fair Tax? Do people understand that concept?A. I don't think it's been presented in the right way. A national sales tax doesn't hit the poor, because there are ample rebates for the poor. It doesn't increase the price.
This is a 23% retail sales tax. You want to encourage economic growth and you want to encourage investment. It's all about the economy. The tax code should not be used as a reward or a punishment. It should be used having the least impact on the economy.
Click for John Cox on other issues.
Source: John Beaudoin, Logan (IA) Herald-Observer
Mike Gravel on Tax Reform
: Jan 1, 2007
Supports a national sales tax to replace IRS
Gravel's campaign is based primarily on his ardent support for direct democracy (the National Initiative), but also emphasizes his support for a national sales tax and abolition of the IRS,
immediate withdrawal from the war in Iraq, a single-payer national health care system, and term limits during his campaign.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: Wikipedia.org article, "Mike Gravel"
Mike Gravel on Tax Reform
: Dec 25, 2006
Repeal the income tax and close down the IRS
The Gravel Agenda: When elected President by the American people, I will:- Repeal the income tax and closing down the IRS replacing it with a Fair Tax (a national sales tax with a pre-bate for necessities)
that will reverse the flight of jobs and capital abroad while balancing the budget;
- Fund education as the top priority it must be in a democracy.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: Campaign website, www.gravel2008.us, "Issues"
Mike Gravel on Tax Reform
: Apr 17, 2006
Tax system unfairness only superceded by incomprehensibility
The Fair Tax: Describing the current tax system as one whose "unfairness is only superceded by its incomprehensibility" the senator promised
to place before the people "a straightforward national sales tax with proper consideration for the necessities of life through a pre-bate."
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: Press release "Announces Run for President"
Rudy Giuliani on Tax Reform
: Dec 9, 1999
Eliminated sales tax on clothes; reduced real estate tax
- The Mayor fought for - and won - a complete elimination of sales tax on all clothing and footwear under $110 beginning December 1, 1999. During the City’s most recent tax-free week, sales were reported to have risen over 70%.
- Effective
December 1, 1999 the tax rate will drop from 3.9% to 3.4%, and will drop to 3.0% effective June 1, 2001
- There will be a continuation of real property tax relief for Co-op and condo owners.
Click for Rudy Giuliani on other issues.
Source: RudyYes.com, “Proven Leadership” web site
Newt Gingrich on Tax Reform
: Jul 2, 1998
Input of public judgement for any major tax reform
The principle of keeping the people on it all the way is my contribution to the great tax reform debate. Some intelligent and persuasive people want a flat income tax. Some other intelligent and persuasive people want to see a sales tax replace any
income tax. So my goal in the great tax reform debate is to make sure that it is carried way beyond the experts and advocates and gets a thorough airing in the minds of the voters. I want them to tell me what they think about this question.
There is a distinction between public judgment and public opinion. The latter is what people tell pollsters off the top of their heads. Public judgment, by contrast, is what develops over time when people pay
attention to something and discuss it with their friends and neighbors. It takes a long time to develop and involves a complex social interaction that is largely unplanned and unprogrammable.
Click for Newt Gingrich on other issues.
Source: Lessons Learned the Hard Way, by Newt Gingrich, p. 27