This particular discussion is actually only about one bill. But it’s a doozy:
HB 814 Establishes the Fair Tax Act of 2009, replacing the state income tax with a state sales tax
Sponsor: Emery, Edgar G. H. (126) Proposed Effective Date: 08/28/2009
CoSponsor: Nieves, Brian D. (98) ……….etal. LR Number: 0893L.01I
Last Action: 02/19/2009 – Read Second Time (H)
HB814
Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled
House Calendar HOUSE BILLS FOR SECOND READING
Okay. Here’s a short lesson in tax policy. One of the reasons we have progressive taxes (like, for instance, an income tax) in which the upper margins of income (not the lower) are taxed at a higher rate is because those upper margins of income are made possible by and the result of the investment of infrastructure by our civilized society. Regressive taxes are bad because if you tax everyone at the same rate (like a sales tax on food and other consumable commodities like gasoline) the poor pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes because those consumable commodities are a higher percentage of their expenditures in the process of even freakin’ staying alive.
The first clue that this is about right wingnut insanity is the title. Any bill that has the words “Fair” and “Tax” in the title is really about cutting taxes for corporations and wealthy people and has nothing at all to do with fairness for anyone else. An extra added bonus would be the a mention of unearned income like inheritance somewhere in the bill. Let’s see:
FIRST REGULAR SESSION
95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES EMERY (Sponsor), NIEVES, SCHAAF, BIVINS, RUESTMAN, JONES (89), PARKINSON, SCHAD, BURLISON, KOENIG, WILSON (119), FISHER (125), FLANIGAN, DETHROW, DAVIS, SMITH (14), ALLEN, KRAUS, RUZICKA, STEVENSON, GUEST, ICET, KELLY, MUNZLINGER, McNARY, SCHOELLER, COOPER, WASSON, PARSON, WELLS, MEINERS AND BRUNS (Co-sponsors).
0893L.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 144, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to the Fair Tax Act of 2009, with a referendum clause.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 144, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 144.001, to read as follows:
144.001. 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Fair Tax Act of 2009”.
2. For all taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, no tax shall be imposed upon any income derived from any source within this state, and all revenues lost as a result of the prohibition on the taxation of income under this section shall be replaced by the levy and imposition of a tax upon all use or consumption of taxable property or services in this state. The rate of such tax shall be five and eleven one-hundredths percent. The general assembly may enact one adjustment after the imposition of such tax if the revenue lost as a result of the prohibition on the taxation of income is greater than or less than the revenue received from the tax imposed in this section. Such adjustment shall be calculated to ensure that the amount of revenue received is equal to the amount of revenue lost under this section.
3. The taxes that shall be replaced under this section are as follows:
(1) Withholding taxes and individual and corporate income taxation;
(2) Corporation franchise and bank franchise taxes;
(3) All tax exemptions and deductions related to income and sales taxes;
(4) The estate tax;
(5) All other state taxes on any source of income.
4. The department of revenue shall determine a method for providing a monthly sales tax rebate for each qualified family. The sales tax rebate shall be distributed to each qualified family on or before the first business day of the month for which the sales tax rebate is being provided. The amount of the sales tax rebate shall be determined annually and be equal to the product of the rate of sales tax established under this section and one-twelfth of the annual poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2), as amended.
5. The department of revenue shall promulgate rules to implement the provisions of this section. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028, RSMo. This section and chapter 536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly under chapter 536, RSMo, to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2009, shall be invalid and void.
Section B. Section A of this act is hereby submitted to the qualified voters of this state for approval or rejection at an election which is hereby ordered and which shall be held and conducted on the Tuesday immediately following the first Monday in November, 2009, or at a special election to be called by the governor for that purpose, pursuant to the laws and constitutional provisions of this state applicable to general elections and the submission of referendum measures by initiative petition, and it shall become effective when approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon at such election and not otherwise.
Section C. The official ballot title for section A of this act submitted under section B of this act shall read as follows:
“Shall Missouri Statutes be amended to eliminate individual and corporate income tax and estate tax, and to enact a single, revenue-neutral sales tax of five and eleven one-hundredths percent on new purchases of goods and services, and to exempt property purchased for business or investment from the sales tax, and to provide each family with a monthly sales tax rebate?”.
[emphasis added]
Yep, that estate tax would be out. It’s the republican way – protect “earned income” from the tax collector.
That’s a massive tax increase for most people, and a tax cut for the wealthy.
Flat tax proponents say that it is fairer because it affects the rich equally, whereas income tax laws generally have loopholes that rich people can exploit. This is a non sequitur. If you’re concerned about income tax loopholes, close the loopholes!
A consumption tax also leaves the rather large loophole of not taxing anything that isn’t consumed – in other words, if you’re rich enough not to need to spend nearly all of your income, you can avoid taxation.
Whoever sponsors and/or co-sponsors such a bill reveals such a fundamental ignorance about the state’s revenue and fairness in taxation needs to be defeated in 2010.
The GOP is not only the party of NO (see California), but a party of lunatics.