House Republicans to vote on bill abolishing IRS, eliminating income tax

[Sandcut]

This is a dipshitted idea that just makes those on the Right look like dipshits.

And the semantics of "You can get rid of the IRS and replace it with XYZ agency is just not thought out to a ratiinal conclusion. ANY federal agency that collects and enforces the tax code will become the IRS in all but name. This is the same as saying that teachers can no longer grade a test using red ink. They can only use purple. Purple is the new red!

Simplify the tax code, but vigorously enforce it! End of problem.

[Defender]

This is a dipshitted idea that just makes those on the Right look like dipshits.

And the semantics of "You can get rid of the IRS and replace it with XYZ agency is just not thought out to a ratiinal conclusion. ANY federal agency that collects and enforces the tax code will become the IRS in all but name. This is the same as saying that teachers can no longer grade a test using red ink. They can only use purple. Purple is the new red!

Simplify the tax code, but vigorously enforce it! End of problem.

There would be nothing to enforce with the "Fair Tax" option. You buy a car, you pay the tax, and it goes straight into the government's coffers just like the 6 or 7 percent state tax you now pay on the things you buy where you now live.

[sbmania]

Why do the republicans do crap like this? It is pointless and not even worth the media attention. Just like with 2A issues they will vote for things that they know have no chance of getting thru so they can make it seem like they are working for their supporters. We all know if this bill had any chance of becoming law NO republicans would vote for it. No politician is going to scrap our tax system. Its the best way they have to penalize /reward certain groups and they are not going to scrap all of the rules they worked for decades to make up.

Exactly right! Not a chance in the world anything meaningful will come of this. At best, maybe there is a REMOTE chance that they will defund the hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents. Maybe.

The easiest solution is a flat tax on everybody and everything. I'd bet it would be 10% or less if everybody paid. But then big companies and rich people would have less reason to support their favorite politicians in return for special laws, so that's not going to happen anytime soon.

[rkrcpa]

Anyone who thinks that they can eliminate the IRS is fooling themselves. The IRS is, in essence, the accounts receivable department. Why would anybody think that you can eliminate the accounts receivable department?

A consumption tax would necessarily become burdensome on the seller of goods and services since remittance and compliance would fall to them.

There are no simple solutions.

[free]

There would be nothing to enforce with the "Fair Tax" option. You buy a car, you pay the tax....

Who is going to make a business collect the tax?

Who is going to make the business send collected tax money to where it needs to go?

Answers: the govt's tax enforcement agency.

and it goes straight into the government's coffers just like the 6 or 7 percent state tax you now pay on the things you buy where you now live.

Uh, no. That's not how it works. When a business charges you sales tax, it does not go "straight into" the govt's coffers. That business holds that money for some period of time, and periodically sends it in. It also sends in appropriate paperwork proving the amount due.

[free]

No you don't. At the very least, with a flat tax the IRS could be drastically reduced in the amount of personnel it has, like three quarters worth of them gone. With the "Fair Tax, or consumption tax, the whole agency could be eliminated and the duties of collecting the money could roll over to existing personnel at the Treasury Department.

Nobody at the TD is currently charged with this, nor does it have the capacity. So you would need to give TD the appropriate resources. Where would it get them? Oh yeah - from the IRS. So you're just moving the function from one agency to another. Big deal. The need for the function and the resources required to fulfill the function still exists. What you call it really doesn't matter.

[Sandcut]

There would be nothing to enforce with the "Fair Tax" option. You buy a car, you pay the tax, and it goes straight into the government's coffers just like the 6 or 7 percent state tax you now pay on the things you buy where you now live.

Right. Because no one ever fraudulently manipulates their earned income.

If an idea is important enough to require a law mandating a behavior, it is also important enough to require an agency to enforce that law. Laws without enforcement are merely suggestions.

[JAKIII]

Exactly right! Not a chance in the world anything meaningful will come of this. At best, maybe there is a REMOTE chance that they will defund the hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents. Maybe.

The easiest solution is a flat tax on everybody and everything. I'd bet it would be 10% or less if everybody paid. But then big companies and rich people would have less reason to support their favorite politicians in return for special laws, so that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Sounds like you answered your own suggestion.

Rich people pay the vast majority of taxes. If you flat tax everything, then average sheep would feel the 10% for that bar of soap way more than rich individuals.

[Walleye Hunter]

Taxes should all be sales based. That way even the leeches living on the government teat have to pay it.

[JAKIII]

Taxes should all be sales based. That way even the leeches living on the government teat have to pay it.

Even drug dealers need toilet paper.