| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| ||||||
| 2 | WHEREAS, A value-added tax (VAT) is a type of sales tax | ||||||
| 3 | that is assessed on goods at every stage of production; and
| ||||||
| 4 | WHEREAS, A VAT is a hidden tax that is ultimately passed | ||||||
| 5 | along to consumers, but is embedded into the price of goods and | ||||||
| 6 | services and therefore not transparent to the consumer; and
| ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, The average tax burden levied by the federal | ||||||
| 8 | government since 1980 has been 18.2% of gross domestic product | ||||||
| 9 | (GDP); and | ||||||
| 10 | WHEREAS, Within the next 15 years, federal taxes are | ||||||
| 11 | projected to rise to the highest level in United States | ||||||
| 12 | history; and
| ||||||
| 13 | WHEREAS, Adding a VAT on top of the existing federal income | ||||||
| 14 | tax would increase the burden on United States taxpayers to | ||||||
| 15 | unprecedented levels; and
| ||||||
| 16 | WHEREAS, The average VAT rate in Europe has risen from 5% | ||||||
| 17 | when the tax was first introduced in the 1960s to 20% today; | ||||||
| 18 | and | ||||||
| 19 | WHEREAS, European countries that have imposed a VAT have | ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | seen their total tax burden rise to an average of over 40% of | ||||||
| 2 | GDP; and
| ||||||
| 3 | WHEREAS, Such high levels of taxation and spending crowd | ||||||
| 4 | out private investment, which stifles economic growth and leads | ||||||
| 5 | to chronically high levels of unemployment; and
| ||||||
| 6 | WHEREAS, The Internal Revenue Service Office of the | ||||||
| 7 | Taxpayer Advocate has calculated that United States taxpayers | ||||||
| 8 | spend approximately $200 billion and 7.6 billion hours a year | ||||||
| 9 | to comply with federal tax laws; and | ||||||
| 10 | WHEREAS, A VAT would only add another layer of complexity | ||||||
| 11 | and compliance costs to a fundamentally unsound tax system; and
| ||||||
| 12 | WHEREAS, The burden of a VAT would fall most heavily on | ||||||
| 13 | low-income and middle-class Americans; and
| ||||||
| 14 | WHEREAS, The true solution to the United States fiscal | ||||||
| 15 | crisis is to rein in the unsustainable growth of federal | ||||||
| 16 | spending; and | ||||||
| 17 | WHEREAS, A VAT would do nothing to restore fiscal | ||||||
| 18 | accountability in Washington, but would simply bankroll | ||||||
| 19 | wasteful and inefficient federal government spending; | ||||||
| 20 | therefore, be it
| ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
| 1 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 2 | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 3 | we urge Congress to oppose the passage of any value-added tax; | ||||||
| 4 | and be it further
| ||||||
| 5 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 6 | presented to the members of the Illinois congressional | ||||||
| 7 | delegation.
| ||||||