Press Releases
Pascrell Asks Republicans When They’ll Vote on GOP Middle Class Tax Hike PlanScheme would jack up taxes on working class Americans and seniors
Washington, DC,
January 31, 2023
U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), a senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, today used the committee’s first markup in the 118th Congress to ask the new majority when the committee would consider the so-called Fair Tax Act, legislation favored by Republican extremists to ratchet up taxes on middle and lower class Americans. “Mr. Chairman, I am glad there appears to be commitment to regular order,” Rep. Pascrell asked new committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO-08). “Can you please let us know how soon we can expect hearings on the Republican national middle class tax hike plan? And will you commit for this bill to be marked up in our committee?” The Republican Chairman refused to answer when Republicans would seek to raise taxes on the middle class, and no other Republican member would acknowledge this piece of their toxic tax agenda. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has purportedly agreed to advance the legislation in exchange for barely winning power earlier this month. The so-called Fair Tax Act would not combat inflation but rather would increase the prices of everything. Grocery prices, for example, would skyrocket. The Republican plan would shift the tax burden onto the backs of the middle class and would be a massive tax on seniors. The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center previously estimated that a national sales tax would heavily favor wealthy households, with the poorest 80 percent of Americans facing net tax hikes and the richest 20 percent enjoying net tax cuts. A Presidential Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform organized under the Bush administration found that those in the lower 80 percent of income distribution would go from paying 15.8% of federal income taxes to paying 34.9% of federal retail sales taxes while the those in the top 20 percent of income distribution would go from paying 84.2% of federal income taxes to 65.1% of federal retail sales taxes. A clip of Rep. Pascrell’s question to his Republican colleagues is available here. |