President Joe Biden said the Republican Party is "fiscally demented" for proposing a bill that would eliminate the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and income taxes.
The president expressed concern about the Republican plan that would end the IRS and income taxes in favor of what would be called the "Fair Tax," essentially a national sales tax administered by the states:
They're fiscally demented, I think. ... They want to raise taxes on the middle class by taxing thousands of everyday items from groceries, gasoline, clothing, and cutting taxes for the wealthiest, because they want to supplant the money lost from taxes on the millionaires and billionaires with a sales tax on virtually everything in the country.
Biden would veto any Republican proposal
The Fair Tax Act was introduced by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) as a way to ease the tax burden on Americans. The bill "will invigorate the American taxpayer and help more Americans achieve the American Dream," according to a press release:
Instead of adding 87,000 new agents to weaponize the IRS against small business owners and middle America, this bill will eliminate the need for the department entirely by simplifying the tax code with provisions that work for the American people and encourage growth and innovation.
The new plan would eliminate all personal and corporate income taxes, the estate tax, gift taxes and the payroll tax. "It is the only tax system that is simple, efficient, friendly to economic growth, non-discriminatory, unintrusive, and FAIR," says Carter.
The president spoke about GOP economic proposals during a speech for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The president argued that the IRS needed additional agents and vowed to veto any of the Republican proposals to cut funding or end the IRS:
You know, all these new IRS agents we have is because they fired a lot of them, and a lot are retiring. ... Let me be clear: If any of these bills happen to reach my desk, I will veto them, any of them.
Even if the bill were to pass the House, it would likely not pass the Democrat-led Senate.
