Even before Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his presidential campaign, a group associated with President Trump began airing attack ads against the Governor. That is a bit unusual, to say the least. It clearly indicated that Trump was nervous about DeSantis.
What is more important to understand is the content of the ad itself. To the tune of “Old McDonald Had a Farm,” the ad claimed that DeSantis was a big tax advocate – noting that he had voted to create a National Sales Tax.
According to the ad, the National Sales Tax would increase the cost of virtually everything people buy. That is true, BUT … there is a key part of the DeSantis proposal that the Trump folks “forgot” to mention. The National Sales Tax proposal would actually lessen the tax burden on the American people because (and this is what the Trump ad left out) … it would abolish the Income Tax. That’s right. No more Income Tax. No more Internal Revenue Services. No more paycheck withholding. No more audits. No more seizure of bank accounts and personal property.
The National Sales Tax means no more debate over who is paying their fair share of taxes – and who is not. It would mean an end to all those legal loopholes for folks who can afford to take advantage of them. No more using the income tax codes to reward or punish people or organizations on the basis of political views.
I have long advocated a National Sales Tax for the aforementioned reasons – and a few more.
A sales tax tends to be regressive – impacting hardest on those with the least financial resources. To adjust for that, the National Sales Tax would be slightly progressive – meaning a higher tax rate on luxury items and no national tax on the basic household necessities, such as food and medicine.
This means that a person’s tax would relate directly to their wealth – their ability to buy stuff. In a sense, the National Sales Tax would take the place of the wealth tax that leftwingers like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren keep proposing.
We already have the collection system in place and operating. It is those who provide the goods and services that we purchase – from the grocery store to the law firm. Businesses already serve as the collection point for taxes – both current sales taxes and withheld income taxes.
The IRS, as we know it today, would dissolve into a much smaller agency within the Department of the Treasury. The Agency’s oversight and enforcement responsibilities would only involve the businesses collecting taxes on behalf of the government. And even this is already part of the national tax collection process. Basically, they would make sure that taxes are properly collected and passed on to the government. It is the same oversight they perform in conjunction with the collection of income tax. What systems are already in place.
Through a National Sales Tax, every person would be able to adjust their tax liability by what and how much they purchase. It would significantly lower the overall tax burden on the average American. What we pay to Uncle Sam would no longer be confiscatory. On the other hand, it would hit hardest on the wealthiest – something the class war progressives – such as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders — should like.
There is an extremely important secondary provision in establishing a National Sales Tax. We must pass a constitutional amendment abolishing and outlawing the income tax. We cannot just suspend it legislatively. The way Washington works, once we have a National Sales Tax, the members of Congress would eventually want to get more money from us by legislatively reinstating the income tax, and that is the worst of all worlds — a National Sales Tax AND an income tax.
Weeeell … if the National Sales Tax is such a damn good idea, why is it not happening?
The opposition comes from the folks who run America – our ruling class. The lawyers. And a lot of those lawyers are … tax lawyers. They are the folks who have designed our current tax system to be a legal bonanza for themselves. They are the folks who have created the maze of loopholes that only they know how to traverse. Then there are all those tax accountants and accounting firms – from TurboTax (for you and me) to the corporate powerhouse, Deloitte (which has annual revenues of $60 billion).
Not only does the National Sales Tax fail to get the attention of most folks in Washington, it is almost never even mentioned or debated. That may be because what little polling there is on the subject shows widespread support among those who understand what a National Sales Tax is and how it works to their financial benefit.
The politicians want “we the people” to be ignorant on the subject of a National Sales Tax. Trump’s anti-DeSantis ad shows how such ignorance is exploited and promoted.
Personally, I believe that every candidate for federal office – and every questionnaire they receive to ascertain their positions on issues – should include a question about a National Sales Tax. I also wish that our so-called public-interest tax-watchdog organizations would promote the National Sales Tax – but then again, they are also beneficiaries of the current system.
I do not expect to see any serious efforts to address a National Sales Tax – but kudos to DeSantis for trying. And shame on Trump for a very deceptive ad against a fellow Republican.
So, there ‘tis.