HR0071 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

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 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

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.