A sign is displayed outside the Internal Revenue Service building May 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
A bill that would try to abolish the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and eliminate federal income tax was reintroduced on Tuesday by Georgia Republican Rep. Buddy Carter.
A vote on the bill, labeled the Fair Tax Act, was part of a deal that was negotiated between the House Freedom Caucus and Speaker Kevin McCarthy during his quest for the speakership.
The Act “will eliminate the need for the IRS by simplifying our tax code with provisions that work for the American people,” Carter said on Twitter.
The current federal income tax scheme would be replaced with a single nationwide consumption tax. The Office of Management and Budget criticized the bill and said it would only benefit certain taxpayers.
“With their first economic legislation of the new Congress, House Republicans are making clear that their top economic priority is to allow the rich and multi-billion dollar corporations to skip out on their taxes, while making life harder for ordinary, middle-class families that pay the taxes they owe,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.
The vote comes after House Republicans passed a bill Monday evening that would prevent plans to fund 87,000 new IRS agents, originally included in the Inflation Reduction Act that Democrats passed last year.
A date has not been set for the vote on the Fair Tax Act. However, both bills are unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Social media users take note: You won't be able to snap that fall foliage selfie at a popular Vermont spot. The town has temporarily closed the road to nonresidents due to overcrowding and “poorly behaved tourists.”
A pair of front-row balcony tickets to Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865 — the night President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth — sold at auction for $262,500, according to a Boston-based auction house.
President Joe Biden grabbed a bullhorn on the picket line Tuesday and urged striking auto workers to “stick with it” in an unparalleled show of support for organized labor by a modern president.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the drawing of a new Alabama congressional map with greater representation for Black voters to proceed. The new districts also could help Democrats trying to flip control of the House of Representatives.
With a government shutdown five days away, Congress is moving into crisis mode as Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces an insurgency from hard-right Republicans eager to slash spending even if it means curtailing federal services for millions of Americans.
