SHOULD THE U.S. CONSIDER A NATIONAL CONSUMPTION TAX?

When the Republican Party took the majority in the US House of Representatives in early 2023, there were increased calls to replace existing tax structures with a national consumption tax. Specifically, the FairTax Act of 2023, introduced to the House in January 2023, calls for a 23 percent sales tax on goods and services in lieu of current income, payroll, and estate and gift taxes. Call for national consumption taxes, like what is included in the FairTax Act, have been repeatedly proposed over the course of the past several decades.