The National Retail Sales Tax: What Would the Rate Have to Be?

23 Pages Posted: 10 Feb 2011

Date Written: May 2005

Abstract

H.R. 25 would replace federal taxes with a 23 percent tax-inclusive (30 percent tax-exclusive) sales tax on private consumption, household interest payments, and government spending, and give households payments to offset taxes on consumption up to the poverty line. This paper shows that even if there were no avoidance or evasion, setting the rate at 23 percent (tax-inclusive) would reduce revenues by $7 trillion relative to current law. The required tax rate to hold the government and revenue constant would be 31 percent tax-inclusive (44 percent tax-exclusive) if there were no evasion or avoidance and much higher under more plausible assumptions.

Keywords: national retail sales tax, H.R. 25, private consumption, household interest payments, government spending

JEL Classification: H00

Suggested Citation

Gale, William G., The National Retail Sales Tax: What Would the Rate Have to Be? (May 2005). Tax Notes, Vol. 107, No. 7, 2005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=779645

William G. Gale (Contact Author)

Brookings Institution ( email )

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