Bill Text: IL HR0071 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urges Congress to oppose the passage of any value-added tax.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2011-05-31 - Resolution Adopted 112-002-001 [HR0071 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2011-HR0071-Introduced.html

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HR0071 LRB097 07842 GRL 47956 r
HOUSE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, A value-added tax (VAT) is a type of sales tax
that is assessed on goods at every stage of production; and
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; and
WHEREAS, The average tax burden levied by the federal
government since 1980 has been 18.2% of gross domestic product
(GDP); and
WHEREAS, Within the next 15 years, federal taxes are
projected to rise to the highest level in United States
history; and
WHEREAS, Adding a VAT on top of the existing federal income
tax would increase the burden on United States taxpayers to
unprecedented levels; and
WHEREAS, The average VAT rate in Europe has risen from 5%
when the tax was first introduced in the 1960s to 20% today;
and
WHEREAS, European countries that have imposed a VAT have

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seen their total tax burden rise to an average of over 40% of
GDP; and
WHEREAS, Such high levels of taxation and spending crowd
out private investment, which stifles economic growth and leads
to chronically high levels of unemployment; and
WHEREAS, The Internal Revenue Service Office of the
Taxpayer Advocate has calculated that United States taxpayers
spend approximately $200 billion and 7.6 billion hours a year
to comply with federal tax laws; and
WHEREAS, A VAT would only add another layer of complexity
and compliance costs to a fundamentally unsound tax system; and
WHEREAS, The burden of a VAT would fall most heavily on
low-income and middle-class Americans; and
WHEREAS, The true solution to the United States fiscal
crisis is to rein in the unsustainable growth of federal
spending; and
WHEREAS, A VAT would do nothing to restore fiscal
accountability in Washington, but would simply bankroll
wasteful and inefficient federal government spending;
therefore, be it

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RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
we urge Congress to oppose the passage of any value-added tax;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
presented to the members of the Illinois congressional
delegation.