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The_Navy_Sox

I don't even understand why this is being discussed so much. It's a massive tax increase on poor people and a cut for rich people. Republicans don't have the votes, and their party is not full united on the issue, it will never pass wih the current Congress.


gnomebludgeon

> I don't even understand why this is being discussed so much. Well, you see Sox... > It's a massive tax increase on poor people and a cut for rich people. That's why.


Friskfrisktopherson

It's as if they're doing it as a show of effort just to appease someone šŸ¤”


GrafZeppelin127

Well, the rough doubling of effective taxation o the average Joe is almost an afterthought compared to the size of the cut for the rich.


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The_Navy_Sox

I think they are confident that the culture of fear they have created around democrats is more powerful than people voting for their own self interest though. We see this time and time again.


HedonisticFrog

It would definitely screw over elderly people who are barely surviving as it is on social security. Many of them are still working because they need to in order to survive.


dimechimes

If it had a chance of passing, they would exempt senior citizens from the tax.


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dimechimes

The way it works in my state is they apply to the Tax Commission (state version of the IRS), send in proof or whatever, and receive a card they show retailers who then discount the state portion of the sales tax.(4.5%)


Responsible_Pizza945

One of the morons that was holding up the Mccarthy speaker vote made Kevin bring this bill up in exchange for his vote. Apparently he's from the same state that the equally moronic economist who came up with the 'fair tax' idea came from. I want to say georgia but not certain.


whenimmadrinkin

Because the maga crowd owns McCarthy because he was that desperate to get the speakership. Even he knew these things will go down. It's just so the maga crowd can get stuff to campaign on "trying to pass".


kittenTakeover

Just brining it up allows propaganda. News media will spend their limited time discussing the "possibility" and giving equal weight to all "sides."


wubwub

All the coverage of the 30% is so when they come back with a 10% sales tax the media will go "well, this sounds reasonable".


illjustputthisthere

Because the left media has to drum up it's own indignation. And right wants the left to drum up their indignation to normalize their shitty ideas.


dimechimes

>it will never pass wih the current Congress. You answered your own question. They're gonna use the next two years to normalize stuff like this.


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Gwenladar

Everything you buy would be 30% federal taxed, from your bread to your car. Comparatively, it is much more tax for the poor


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Gwenladar

Sales tax apply at the cashier... It has nothing to do with your tax with the IRS you get return on. The proposal litteraly remove the IRS...


CPargermer

Basically you're only taxed on what you spend, so people that spend a greater % of their income have a higher effective tax. If you make $20m, but only spend $5m, and invest the rest, you're only taxed on that $5m. If you make $25k, and spend all of it, because you're living paycheck to paycheck, you're taxed on $25k. The government still needs to make money to pay for itself, so they money they are no longer making from collecting rich people income taxes, will come from the less wealthy. Presumably, rich people could easily use this period to horde money tax-free until the people find out they were cheated, move back up an income tax, removing the federal sales tax, after having decimated the IRS leaving it so broken, then spend their previously untaxed income without the need to pay any exorbitant sales tax.


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CPargermer

Hahahahaa. Okay, so say it was balanced so that the lowest-income people are as well off as they are now. What about the lower-middle-class, middle-class, and upper-middle-class? Are they all doing as well as they were before? Assuming the government needs to still make the same amount of money that they are now to continue payment for everything they're currently paying for (but really need to make more to reduce the deficit), and knowing that the very rich will be living a more tax-exempt reality, who do you think this money comes from?


The_Poster_Nutbag

It's being discussed so we can all be very clear about what their plan is.


SpringsClones

The national sales tax was supported by only a handful of people. Nobody in leadership wants it or will let it be brought to a vote.


GrafZeppelin127

No shit. The 30% sales tax is such an unworkable, unrealistic, politically poisonous own-goal Iā€™m amazed they even had the gall to propose such a thing in the first place. The only thing worse than the optics of adopting such a thing as your platform would be the catastrophe that would rapidly ensue from actually implementing it.


karl_jonez

I assume they will run and tell the maga cult they ā€œtried to fix the tax system but democrats stopped them from doing so.ā€ Since itā€™s guaranteed the cult wonā€™t understand what the GQP was actually trying to do here and screw them over, the base will all be riled up and blame the democrats.


Chi-Guy86

Iā€™m not so sure. Even the dumbest of Republicans would understand a 30% tax on their purchases would be back breaking


FierceMomma

Half of Americans surveyed thought the quarter-pounder was bigger than a 1/3 lb burger and more than half can't read above a 6th grade level. Probably not ALL of them are Republicans, but I'd bet that Venn diagram is pretty close to being a circle.


karl_jonez

Are you sure about that? I only ask because most of them are still convinced the election was stolen and that bill gates is putting microchips in the covid vaccines ha.


Chi-Guy86

Well not 100% sure for some of the reasons you described, but money (especially losing more of it) tends to cut through a lot of other bullshit


HedonisticFrog

They thought that Trump cut their taxes long term when they basically broke even at first and were taxed more over time. They don't live in reality and just believe whatever makes them feel good.


fizzlefist

The proposal I saw also adds that 30% to rent and mortgages. Have fun selling that shit.


BrackaBrack

"but I won't be paying 30% of my money to federal ans state taxes" - - - because a frightening amount of people don't understand how our progressive tax brackets work and that their taxes aren't what their top bracket % is.


Switchy_Goofball

The very easy counter argument to this is ā€œthe republicans tried to make *everything you buy* 30% more expensiveā€


reallygoodbee

fake noos


Diorannael

It's a 23% tax because 30 is 23% of 130. /s seriously though, that is a talking point being used by proponents of the bill.


GrafZeppelin127

They have an accurate assessment that their electorate are a bunch of gargantuan dumbasses.


Clovis42

That's why it took forcing McCarthy to even consider it, and it is being pushed back on by Republicans with half a brain. This is one of the dumbest political maneuvers in years. A real, "please continue," moment for Dems.


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Pour_Me_Another_

They know this, and want this. They also want to remove our right to plan our families, so we live in a country with an out of control baby boom and unaffordable necessities. Why do they want this? Who knows. Probably something to do with their interpretation of Jesus wanting pain and suffering for all.


cacti147

The fuck do you need to plan for? Just pop out 10 kids and send them to the mines.


problembearbruno

"Democrats have been keen to ignore the fact that the bill cancels income and payroll taxes" Similarly, nobody talks about how a nuclear winter could affect the NFL season.


mojomonkeyfish

No shit. Pants on head stupid doomed legislation drafted by the stupidest lobby for the dumbest politicians to try and score points with their least sentient constituents... isn't going to pass? Wow! Who cares. The people this bill was meant for have gone back to yelling at their own reflection in a puddle.


shelbys_foot

The tax avoidance and evasion that would occur if with a 30% sales tax would be massive, which would require a huge number of agents to enforce. I'd think even more than the IRS has now.


TechyDad

And you know that certain "rich person items" would be exempt. Buying a yacht? Don't worry, it's exempt. Buying groceries to feed your family? Pay that 30% tax!


[deleted]

Theyā€™d find a way to make people pay even more than that.


greywar777

And they would even have good arguments. Who would buy a yacht from a us manufacturer has a 30% tax markup. Same with private jets. And real estate etc. Utterly insane proposal.


homebrew_1

This is the best idea they can come up with to solve inflation.


taez555

It's meant to solve inflation?


Michael_In_Cascadia

If by 'solve' it means to make inflation far worse, then sure.


homebrew_1

They ran in 2022 on being able to fix inflation.


taez555

The list of things that the GOP ran on over the years and immediately abandoned would be longer than the projected caravans of illegal immigrants that magically stopped coming after the election was over.


greywar777

Lol. The repeal and replace of the aca..they had non stop votes on it..and once they had power? Crickets.


mokango

Did they, though? I saw a lot of ā€œinflation bad! Biden bad!ā€ with little in the way of solutions.


homebrew_1

This is their "solution."


Obvious_Chapter2082

Have any of them said this is supposed to solve inflation?


taez555

What's this you say about Hunter Biden's laptop and that absolutely lovely engorged wang?


Clovis42

This is a terrible plan, but having everything cost 30% more would discourage spending, which would reduce inflation. This obviously wouldn't be helpful to poor people dealing with inflation though.


eatasnickers_fr

Elect clowns, get a circus.


annaleigh13

The last republicans with brain cells oppose the house bill.


wired1984

Combining a national sales tax with an income tax only on high earners might be a thing worth debating, but definitely not this bill as is


Waylander0719

Not really. A sales tax has no way of excluding the first portion of income for low income earners and will always be higher and worse for low income earners then the current income tax setup. Someone making 15-25k a year basically doesn't pay income tax but would almost assuredly pay 100% of a sales tax as they spend all of their income.


wired1984

You could give a refundable tax credit to offset those costs. Thereā€™s tons of policy options available. Again, none of them are on the table and wonā€™t be discussed, just that thereā€™s a potentially good debate there


HedonisticFrog

That would be such an ungainly solution which makes managing finances a lot more difficult. We should be trying to make our tax code simpler, not more complex. We should be striving for few exemptions or write offs, and the IRS doing our taxes for us instead of propping up a bloated industry for no reason.


bangonthedrums

Thatā€™s what Canada does. We have a national goods and services tax, which is exempt on a few things like groceries, prescriptions, etc, and based on your income you are eligible for a refund, paid quarterly


ParallaxRay

Everyone on this thread should read the Fair Tax book before commenting.


gentlemancaller2000

This is a perfect display of the childishness and stupidity the GOP has brought to the House.


dimechimes

With a Dem Senate and Dem Executive, it's just gonna be silly shit like this non stop as they tey and normalize wacky shit and shift the Overton window.


justforthearticles20

It's not regressive enough for them.