Robert Wittman on Tax Reform Republican

Hold the line on job-killing tax increases

Voted NO on extending AMT exemptions to avoid hitting middle-income.

1. increase and extend through 2008 the alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption amounts;
2. extend through 2008 the offset of personal tax credits against AMT tax liabilities; Reference: Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act; Bill H.R.6275 ; vote number 2008-455 on Jun 25, 2008

   Repeal the Death Tax.

   Wittman signed H.R.205
   A BILL to repeal the Federal estate and gift taxes:
   • Subtitle B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes) is hereby repealed.
   • The repeal shall apply to estates of decedents dying, gifts made, and generation-skipping transfers made after the date of the enactment of this Act.
   Source: Death Tax Repeal Act 09-HR205 on Jan 6, 2009

   Replace income tax & employment tax with FairTax.

   Wittman signed H.R.25 & S.296
   • Repeals the income tax, employment tax, and estate and gift tax.
   • Imposes a national sales tax on the use or consumption in the United States of taxable property or services.
   • Sets the sales tax rate at 23% in 2011, with adjustments to the rate in subsequent years.
   • Allows exemptions from the tax for property or services purchased for business, export, or investment purposes, and for state government functions.
   • Prohibits the funding of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after FY2013.
   • Establishes in the Department of the Treasury: (1) an Excise Tax Bureau to administer excise taxes not administered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); and (2) a Sales Tax Bureau to administer the national sales tax.
   • Terminates the sales tax imposed by this Act if the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (authorizing an income tax) is not repealed within seven years after the enactment of this Act.
   Source: Fair Tax Act 09-HR25 on Jan 6, 2009

   No European-style VAT (value-added tax).

   Wittman signed H.RES.1346
   RESOLUTION Opposing the imposition of a value-added tax:
   • Whereas a value-added tax (VAT) is a type of sales tax that is assessed on goods at every stage of production;
   • Whereas a VAT is a hidden tax that is ultimately passed along to consumers, but is embedded into the price of goods and services and therefore not transparent to the consumer;
   • Whereas the average tax burden levied by the Federal Government since 1980 has been 18% of GDP;
   • Whereas, within the next 15 years, Federal taxes are projected to rise to the highest level in US history;
   • Whereas adding a VAT on top of the existing Federal income tax would increase the burden on United States taxpayers to unprecedented levels;
   • Whereas the average VAT rate in Europe has risen from 5% when the tax was first introduced in the 1960s to 20% today;
   • Whereas European countries that have imposed a VAT have seen their total tax burden rise to an average of over 40% of GDP;
   • Whereas such high levels of taxation and spending crowd out private investment, which stifles economic growth and leads to chronically high levels of unemployment;
   • Whereas the IRS has calculated that US taxpayers spend approximately $200 billion and 7.6 billion hours a year to comply with Federal tax laws;
   • Whereas a VAT would only add another layer of complexity and compliance costs to a fundamentally unsound tax system;
   • Whereas the burden of a VAT would fall most heavily on low-income and middle-class Americans; and
   • Whereas a VAT would do nothing to restore fiscal accountability in Washington, but would simply bankroll wasteful and inefficient Federal Government spending:
   • Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That--
   • It is the sense of the House of Representatives that imposing a value-added tax would be a massive tax increase that would cripple families on fixed income and only further push back the US economic recovery; and
   • the House of Representatives opposes a value-added tax.
   Source: Opposing the Imposition of a VAT 10-HRs1346 on May 11, 2010

   Replace income tax & estate tax with 23% sales tax.

   Wittman co-sponsored Fair Tax Act of 2011
   Congress finds the Federal income tax--
   1. retards economic growth and has reduced the standard of living
   2. impedes the international competitiveness of US industry
   3. reduces savings and investment by taxing income multiple times
   4. slows the capital formation necessary for real wages to steadily increase
   5. lowers productivity
   6. imposes unacceptable and unnecessary administrative and compliance costs
   7. is unfair and inequitable
   8. unnecessarily intrudes upon the privacy and civil rights of US citizens
   9. impedes upward social mobility.
   Findings Relating to National Sales Tax- Congress finds further that a broad-based national sales tax on goods and services purchased for final consumption--
   1. is similar in many respects to the sales and use taxes in place in 45 of the 50 States
   2. will promote savings and investment
   3. will promote fairness
   4. will promote economic growth
   5. will raise the standard of living
   6. will increase investment
   7. will enhance productivity and international competitiveness
   8. will reduce administrative burdens on the American taxpayer
   9. will improve upward social mobility; and
   10. will respect the privacy interests and civil rights of taxpayers.
   REPEAL OF THE INCOME TAX, PAYROLL TAXES, AND ESTATE AND GIFT TAXES
   • Subtitle A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to income taxes and self-employment taxes) is repealed.
   • Subtitle C of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to payroll taxes and withholding of income taxes) is repealed.
   • Funding of Social Security Trust Funds [will be] from general revenue
   • Subtitle B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to estate and gift taxes) is repealed.
   • IMPOSITION OF SALES TAX: There is hereby imposed a tax on the use or consumption in the US of taxable property or services.
   • In the calendar year 2013, the rate of tax is 23% of the gross payments for the taxable property or service.
   Source: H.R.25 11-HR025 on Jan 5, 2011

   Permanently repeal the estate tax.

   Wittman co-sponsored Death Tax Repeal Act

   Congressional Summary:

   • H.R.143: Effective for estates of decedents dying after December 31, 2010, chapter 11 of subtitle B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is repealed.
   • H.R.177: Subtitle B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to estate, gift, and generation-skipping taxes) is hereby repealed.

   OnTheIssues Explanation: At the end of 2010, the temporary one-year suspension of the estate tax ended. This bill proposes to make it permanent, with zero exemption. The "exemption" means the amount one can inherit without taxation. In 2009 the rate was 45% and the exemption amount was $3.5 million. On January 1, 2010 a "one year repeal" of the tax was effectuated by a temporary, one-year-only rate of 0%. On January 1, 2011 the estate tax is scheduled to a top rate of 35% and the exemption amount is scheduled to be $5 million, or $10 million for married couples.

   Source: HR143&HR177 11-HR143 on Jan 5, 2011

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   Page last updated: Nov 02, 2011