PDF(PDF provides a complete and accurate display of this text.)Tip?
Shown Here: Introduced in House (05/11/2010)
111th CONGRESS 2d Session
H. RES. 1346
Opposing the imposition of a value-added
tax.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 11, 2010
Mr. Herger (for
himself, Mr. Boehner,
Mr. Cantor,
Mr. Pence,
Mr. Lance,
Mr. Tiahrt,
Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas,
Mr. Linder,
Mr. Tiberi,
Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida,
Mr. Davis of Kentucky,
Mr. Reichert,
Mr. Boustany,
Mr. Heller,
Mr. Roskam,
Mr. Bartlett,
Mr. Barton of Texas,
Mr. Bilbray,
Mr. Bishop of Utah,
Mrs. Blackburn,
Mrs. Bono Mack,
Mr. Boozman,
Mr. Broun of Georgia,
Mr. Burgess,
Mr. Burton of Indiana,
Mr. Calvert,
Mr. Carter,
Mr. Chaffetz,
Mr. Coffman of Colorado,
Mr. Conaway,
Mr. Culberson,
Mr. Dreier,
Ms. Fallin,
Mr. Flake,
Mr. Fleming,
Mr. Forbes,
Mr. Fortenberry,
Ms. Foxx, Mr. Franks of Arizona,
Mr. Gallegly,
Mr. Garrett of New Jersey,
Mr. Gohmert,
Mr. Hall of Texas,
Mr. Harper,
Mr. Hastings of Washington,
Mr. Hensarling,
Mr. Issa, Ms. Jenkins, Mr.
Johnson of Illinois, Mr. Jordan of
Ohio, Mr. King of Iowa,
Mr. Kingston,
Mr. Lamborn,
Mr. Latham,
Mr. Latta,
Mr. Lewis of California,
Mr. LoBiondo,
Mrs. Lummis,
Mr. Mack, Mr. Marchant, Mr.
McCarthy of California, Mr.
McCaul, Mr. McClintock,
Mr. McHenry,
Mr. McKeon,
Mr. Mica, Mr. Moran of Kansas, Mrs. Myrick, Mr.
Neugebauer, Mr. Paulsen,
Mr. Pitts,
Mr. Poe of Texas,
Mr. Posey,
Mr. Price of Georgia,
Mr. Roe of Tennessee,
Mr. Rogers of Kentucky,
Mr. Scalise,
Mrs. Schmidt,
Mr. Schock,
Mr. Sessions,
Mr. Shadegg,
Mr. Simpson,
Mr. Thornberry,
Mr. Walden,
Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, and
Mr. Wolf) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
RESOLUTION
Opposing the imposition of a value-added
tax.
Whereas a value-added tax (VAT) is a type of sales tax
that is assessed on goods at every stage of production;
Whereas a VAT is a hidden tax that is ultimately passed
along to consumers, but is embedded into the price of goods and services and
therefore not transparent to the consumer;
Whereas the average tax burden levied by the Federal
Government since 1980 has been 18.2 percent of gross domestic product
(GDP);
Whereas, within the next 15 years, Federal taxes are
projected to rise to the highest level in United States history;
Whereas adding a VAT on top of the existing Federal income
tax would increase the burden on United States taxpayers to unprecedented
levels;
Whereas the average VAT rate in Europe has risen from 5
percent when the tax was first introduced in the 1960s to 20 percent
today;
Whereas European countries that have imposed a VAT have
seen their total tax burden rise to an average of over 40 percent of
GDP;
Whereas such high levels of taxation and spending crowd
out private investment, which stifles economic growth and leads to chronically
high levels of unemployment;
Whereas the Internal Revenue Service Office of the
Taxpayer Advocate has calculated that United States taxpayers spend
approximately $200 billion and 7.6 billion hours a year to comply with Federal
tax laws;
Whereas a VAT would only add another layer of complexity
and compliance costs to a fundamentally unsound tax system;
Whereas, on September 12, 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama
told an audience in Dover, New Hampshire, that “I can make a firm pledge:
under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 will see their taxes
increase—not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains
taxes, not any of your taxes.”;
Whereas the burden of a VAT would fall most heavily on
low-income and middle-class Americans;
Whereas the true solution to the United States fiscal
crisis is to rein in the unsustainable growth of Federal spending; and
Whereas a VAT would do nothing to restore fiscal
accountability in Washington, but would simply bankroll wasteful and
inefficient Federal Government spending: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That—
(1) it is the sense of
the House of Representatives that imposing a value-added tax would be a massive
tax increase that would cripple families on fixed income and only further push
back the United States economic recovery; and
(2) the House of
Representatives opposes a value-added tax.