Kevin McCarthy disavows 30 percent national sales tax he promised a vote on to win House speaker race


Among the things House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) promised a group of 20 hard-right holdouts in order to win the speaker's gavel was a vote on legislation that would scrap the Internal Revenue System and U.S. taxation system and replace it with a 30 percent national sales tax. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) has already filed legislation for this "Fair Tax Act," but McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday he opposes the bill.
McCarthy isn't alone. Three GOP congressmen from New York swing districts have already pledged to vote against it — effectively dooming the long-shot legislation.
Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist called the steep national sales tax "a political gift to [President] Biden and the Democrats," telling Semafor that the Fair Tax Act is "the first significant problem created for the Republican Party by the 20 people who thought that there was no downside to the approach they took." The Wall Street Journal editorial board agreed and suggested that if "Carter and other supporters insist on a masochistic vote, the GOP could invoke the Freedom Caucus's demand for 'regular order' and kill the Fair Tax in the Ways and Means Committee."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
And that's the approach McCarthy and his allies are taking, Axios reports. "Any legislative proposal by any member would have to go through committee in regular order, have hearings, be marked up, and be subject to amendment," said Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), one of McCarthy's negotiators. The hardliners may believe they were promised a floor vote on the bill, Axios reports, but top Republicans say McCarthy only committed to giving the bill a hearing in committee.
Replacing all current federal taxes with a national sales tax "is not a new idea," or a popular one, CNN notes. An independent analysis of a similar national sales tax in 2011 "found that, on average, most income groups would pay more tax than they did under the federal tax system at the time — except the top 5 percent of earners who would see a tax cut." Not surprisingly, "outside the deepest trenches of conservatism, a 30 percent sales tax is mostly seen as an obvious political loser," Semafor adds. "Democrats, for their part, can hardly seem to believe their luck that their opponents might attach themselves to it."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Judge blocks Trump's asylum ban at US border
Speed Read The president violated federal law by shutting down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers, said the ruling
-
Thai court suspends prime minister over leaked call
Speed Read Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended, pending an ethics investigation
-
Senate passes GOP megabill after Alaska side deal
The pivotal yes vote came from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, whose support was secured following negotiated side deals for her home state Alaska
-
Trump sues LA over immigration policies
Speed Read He is suing over the city's sanctuary law, claiming it prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities
-
Obama, Bush and Bono eulogize USAID on final day
Speed Read The US Agency for International Development, a humanitarian organization, has been gutted by the Trump administration
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible