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."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
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.
-
Leo XIV vs. Trump: what will first American Pope mean for US Catholics?
Today's Big Question New pope has frequently criticised the president, especially on immigration policy, but is more socially conservative than his predecessor
-
What's going on with the Beckhams?
In the Spotlight From wedding tantrums to birthday snubs, rumours of a family rift are becoming harder to hide
-
Quiz of The Week: 3 – 9 May
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Harvard stares down Trump's tax threat as other schools take note
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Higher ed is on high alert as the nation's premier university prepares to take on the fight of its life
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal