[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2393 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2393

   To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop and present to 
    Congress a legislative proposal to establish a consumption tax.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 17, 2013

  Mr. Fattah introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop and present to 
    Congress a legislative proposal to establish a consumption tax.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``American Growth & Tax Reform Act of 
2013''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States, from its beginning in 1790 to the 
        present, has been free of a national debt for only two years, 
        1834 and 1835.
            (2) After 1946, the national debt as a percentage of GDP 
        declined, reaching a low of 32.5 percent in 1981.
            (3) The large budget deficits of the 1980s and 1990s 
        reversed this trend and pushed the percentage to another high 
        of 49.5 percent in 1993.
            (4) The Federal budget surpluses from fiscal year 1998 to 
        fiscal year 2001 were used to retire a portion of the publicly 
        held national debt.
            (5) Between fiscal year 1997 and fiscal year 2001, the 
        publicly held portion of the national debt declined by more 
        than $400 billion.
            (6) Since fiscal year 2002, a return to budget deficits has 
        caused the debt to grow again.
            (7) The national debt has grown from 75.5 million in 1790 
        to $16,781,967,702,405.37, as of April 19, 2013.
            (8) Congress must consider innovative tax strategies to 
        meet this fiscal challenge.
            (9) A consumption tax will assist in decreasing the total 
        public debt outstanding by broadening the tax base to include 
        revenue from untapped sources: foreign tourists, undocumented 
        immigrants, the underground economy, and multi-million dollar 
        business transactions.
            (10) Implementing a consumption tax would simplify the 
        current tax system.
            (11) At least 84 countries subscribe to some form of 
        consumption taxation, including Afghanistan, Albania, 
        Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, 
        Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Cameroon, 
        Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Comoros, Congo (DRC), 
        Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, 
        Ghana, Germany, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Ireland, 
        Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Kosovo, Kuwait, 
        Laos, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, 
        Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New 
        Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Russian 
        Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovak 
        Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, 
        Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, 
        Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, United Kingdom, 
        Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
            (12) Under a consumption tax, personal savings are excluded 
        from the taxable base thereby rewarding taxpayers for saving.

SEC. 3. CONSUMPTION TAX LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall develop and 
submit to Congress a legislative proposal to establish a consumption 
tax that is broad-based and progressive in nature.
    (b) Proposal Requirements.--
            (1) In general.--Such proposal shall set forth the details 
        of such a consumption tax and the rates that the Secretary 
        estimates would eliminate the total public debt outstanding in 
        10 years, 20 years, and 30 years, respectively, under each of 
        the following scenarios:
                    (A) The consumption tax would be in addition to all 
                Federal taxes in effect on the date of the enactment of 
                this Act.
                    (B) The consumption tax would replace the 
                individual income tax imposed by section 1 of the 
                Internal Revenue Code of 1986 on earned income (as 
                defined in section 32(c)(2) of such Code).
                    (C) The consumption tax would replace the corporate 
                income tax imposed by section 11 of such Code.
            (2) Feasibility and comparative analysis.--Such proposal 
        shall also include--
                    (A) an analysis of the feasibility of, any barriers 
                to, and any advantages or disadvantages of, a Federal 
                consumption tax, and
                    (B) a comparative analysis of the function and 
                character of consumption taxes in other countries that 
                impose a consumption tax.
                                 <all>