115 S18 IS: Fair Tax Act of 2017 U.S. Senate text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

II115th CONGRESS1st SessionS. 18IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESJanuary 3, 2017Mr. Moran (for himself and Mr. Perdue) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on FinanceA BILLTo promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short Title

This Act may be cited as the Fair Tax Act of 2017. (b)

Table of Contents

The table of contents for this Act is as follows:Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.Sec. 2. Congressional findings.Title I—Repeal of the Income Tax, Payroll Taxes, and Estate and Gift TaxesSec. 101. Income taxes repealed.Sec. 102. Payroll taxes repealed.Sec. 103. Estate and gift taxes repealed.Sec. 104. Conforming amendments; effective date.Title II—Sales Tax EnactedSec. 201. Sales tax.Sec. 202. Conforming and technical amendments.Title III—Other MattersSec. 301. Phase-out of administration of repealed Federal taxes.Sec. 302. Administration of other Federal taxes.Sec. 303. Sales tax inclusive Social Security benefits indexation.Title IV—Sunset of Sales Tax if Sixteenth Amendment not RepealedSec. 401. Elimination of sales tax if Sixteenth Amendment not repealed.

2.

Congressional findings

(a)

Findings Relating to Federal Income Tax

Congress finds the Federal income tax— (1)retards economic growth and has reduced the standard of living of the American public; (2)impedes the international competitiveness of United States industry; (3)reduces savings and investment in the United States by taxing income multiple times; (4)slows the capital formation necessary for real wages to steadily increase; (5)lowers productivity; (6)imposes unacceptable and unnecessary administrative and compliance costs on individual and business taxpayers; (7)is unfair and inequitable; (8)unnecessarily intrudes upon the privacy and civil rights of United States citizens; (9)hides the true cost of government by embedding taxes in the costs of everything Americans buy; (10)is not being complied with at satisfactory levels and therefore raises the tax burden on law abiding citizens; and (11)impedes upward social mobility. (b)

Findings Relating to Federal Payroll Taxes

Congress finds further that the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes and self-employment taxes— (1)raise the cost of employment; (2)destroy jobs and cause unemployment; and (3)have a disproportionately adverse impact on lower income Americans. (c)

Findings Relating to Federal Estate and Gift Taxes

Congress finds further that the Federal estate and gift taxes— (1)force family businesses and farms to be sold by the family to pay such taxes; (2)discourage capital formation and entrepreneurship; (3)foster the continued dominance of large enterprises over small family-owned companies and farms; and (4)impose unacceptably high tax planning costs on small businesses and farms. (d)

Findings Relating to National Sales Tax

Congress finds further that a broad-based national sales tax on goods and services purchased for final consumption— (1)is similar in many respects to the sales and use taxes in place in 45 of the 50 States; (2)will promote savings and investment; (3)will promote fairness; (4)will promote economic growth; (5)will raise the standard of living; (6)will increase investment; (7)will enhance productivity and international competitiveness; (8)will reduce administrative burdens on the American taxpayer; (9)will improve upward social mobility; and (10)will respect the privacy interests and civil rights of taxpayers. (e)

Findings Relating to Administration of National Sales Tax

Congress further finds that— (1)most of the practical experience administering sales taxes is found at the State governmental level; (2)it is desirable to harmonize Federal and State collection and enforcement efforts to the maximum extent possible; (3)it is sound tax administration policy to foster administration and collection of the Federal sales tax at the State level in return for a reasonable administration fee to the States; and (4)businesses that must collect and remit taxes should receive reasonable compensation for the cost of doing so. (f)

Findings Relating to Repeal of Present Federal Tax System

Congress further finds that the 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution should be repealed.