American Growth & Tax Reform Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to develop and submit to Congress a legislative proposal to establish a consumption tax that is broad-based and progressive in nature. Requires such proposal to: (1) set forth the details of such a consumption tax and the rates required to eliminate the total public debt in 10, 20, or 30 years; and (2) include an analysis of the feasibility of such a tax and a comparative analysis of the function and character of consumption taxes in other countries.
[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.
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Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
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