Topics in the News: Sales Tax
Gina Raimondo on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Dec 20, 2019)
OpEd: Raimondo wants tax increases
It's the week before Christmas and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo is imitating the Grinch--but instead of stealing Christmas, she's headed straight for your wallets. In an interview with the Providence Journal
Raimondo listed at least three potential tax increases: "I just have to find some money. It could come from anywhere. It could come from an income tax. It could come from a sales tax. It could come from a fee."
Click for Gina Raimondo on other issues.
Source: Republican Gov. Assoc. on 2022 Rhode Island Governor race
Julian Castro on Sales Tax:
(Education Apr 22, 2019)
Nationwide expansion of universal pre-K
As mayor, Castro proposed Prek4SA, a universal pre-K program, in exchange for an eighth-cent sales tax increase, per the Washington Post.
Castro wants to expand universal pre-K to the entire country.
Click for Julian Castro on other issues.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
Julian Castro on Sales Tax:
(Education Apr 11, 2019)
Invest in public schools, pre-K through higher ed
The thing that I'm most proud of was that when I was mayor of San Antonio, we took to the voters a ballot initiative to raise the sales tax by an eighth of a cent to expand high quality full-day Pre-K for our 4-year-olds.
Science is very clear that if you have a dollar to invest in education, the best time to invest it is when a child is young. We need universal Pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds in our country.
We have to improve K-12 education by investing in our public schools, paying teachers what they deserve, making sure that the needs of a child can be met at the school that they attend. We need to make higher education universal, so that people
can go to a public university, community college, and apprenticeship program, some sort of job training program, at least tuition free so that everybody gets the knowledge and the skills that they need to compete.
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Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Julian Castro on Sales Tax:
(Education Feb 15, 2019)
Extended Pre-K education for needy kids
Castro's signature mayoral accomplishment was his "Brainpower Initiative," later changed to "Pre-K 4 SA" and passed by ballot measure in 2012. The initiative raised the sales tax by an eighth of one cent to pay for
extending early childhood education to thousands of mostly impoverished four-year-olds. Castro initiated and relentlessly campaigned for the measure.
Click for Julian Castro on other issues.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary contenders
Steve Bullock on Sales Tax:
(Jobs Oct 11, 2017)
Guarantee equal pay for women
Bullock is understandably queasy about being labeled a capital-P Progressive. He walked the line during his 2016 reelection campaign: Although one of his campaign ads, narrated by his daughter, was about the need to guarantee equal pay for
women, a liberal priority that many conservatives oppose and which is rarely a top-line campaign topic for Democrats in tight races, he also ran ads calling himself a fiscal conservative while slamming his wealthy opponent's proposed sales tax.
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Source: Politico.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
John Hickenlooper on Sales Tax:
(Drugs May 24, 2016)
First state to regulate legal sale of marijuana
[With the 2013 legislative session] We became the first state in the nation to pass laws to regulate the legal sale of marijuana. Every other regulated industry has benefited from years of trial and error, and could look to other states or even other
countries for models of what has worked and what has not. That was not an option here. The General Assembly agreed to a 15 percent excise tax to an initial 10 percent sales tax for recreational marijuana.
For the sake of public safety, we set a legal limit of active THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, that drivers can have in their blood so that juries have a benchmark to judge whether someone was too high to drive.
The Colorado Department of Revenue created an innovative seed-to-sale tracking system. The rules were written. Recreational sales of marijuana would begin on January 1, 2014.
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Source: The Opposite of Woe, by John Hickenlooper, p.317
Bernie Sanders on Sales Tax:
(Education Nov 14, 2015)
$70B to make public colleges & universities tuition-free
Q: Secy. Clinton, you want to make public college debt-free. Who pays for that?CLINTON: Well, first of all, it isn't the middle class. I have made very clear that hardworking, middle-class families need a raise, not a tax increase.
Q: Gov. O'Malley,
you also want to make public college debt-free.
O`MALLEY: In Maryland, yes, we did in fact raise the sales tax by a penny for our public schools; we were the only state to go four years in a row without a penny's increase to college tuitions.
Q: Senator Sanders, you want to make public college free altogether. Isn't this throwing a lot of money away since 1/3 of these people are not going to complete college?
SANDERS: No, it is an extraordinary investment for this country. Germany & many
other countries do it already. This is revolutionary for education in America. It will give hope to millions of young people.
Q: And you want to have the states pay for about 1/3 of this $70 billion plan, correct?
SANDERS: Yes.
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Source: 2015 CBS Democratic primary debate in Iowa
Deval Patrick on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Jan 17, 2013)
Called for cutting state sales tax, hiking income tax
Patrick called for a sharp increase in the state income tax and a deep cut in the sales tax.In his annual "State of the State" speech, Patrick asked the state Legislature to approve a hike in the state's
5.25 percent income tax to 6.25 percent and a reduction in the 6.25 percent sales tax to 4.5 percent. Patrick said proceeds, estimated at $1.9 billion a year, would go to public education and transportation projects.
Click for Deval Patrick on other issues.
Source: Reason magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Deval Patrick on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Jan 16, 2013)
Reduce sales tax; and raise income tax
I propose to restructure our tax system by placing a greater reliance on the income tax and less reliance on the sales tax. In my budget, I will propose that we cut the sales tax from the current rate of 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent and dedicate all the
proceeds to a public works fund. That fund will support the transportation plan I have laid out--as well as the school building fund and other public infrastructure. Under my plan, sales tax proceeds would be off limits for any other purpose.
To support our education initiatives, my budget will propose that we increase the income tax by 1 percentage point--to 6.25 percent. To make that increase fair to all according to their ability to pay, I will propose that we double the personal
exemptions for every taxpayer and eliminate a number of itemized deductions. Making those changes gives us a tax code that is simpler and fairer. These changes our sales, income and business taxes will be competitive with other states in the region.
Click for Deval Patrick on other issues.
Source: 2013 State of the State address to Commonwealth Legislature
Barack Obama on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Sep 19, 2012)
47% who don't pay income tax pay many other taxes
Q: Romney claims that 47% of the population pays no taxes. Your comment?A: Are there people who abuse the system? Yes, both at the bottom and at the top--because there are a whole bunch of millionaires who aren't paying taxes at all either. But when
you look statistically, it turns out that even if people aren't paying income taxes, they're paying payroll taxes. They're paying gas taxes. They're paying sales taxes. They're paying state & local taxes. So the fact of the matter is that the few people
who are not paying income taxes are either paying a lot of taxes because they're working every day but they just don't make enough money overall to pay income tax; or alternatively, they're senior citizens or they're students or they're disabled; or,
in some cases, they're veterans or soldiers who are fighting for us right now overseas--they don't pay an income tax. Americans work hard, and if they're not working right now, they want to get to work. And that's what my economic plan is designed to do.
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Source: Obama-Romney interviews by Univision Noticias (Spanish News)
Nikki Haley on Sales Tax:
(Corporations Apr 3, 2012)
Government makes it harder for struggling small business
[My mom's gift shop was] a small business trying to compete with giant departments stores. But I also noticed how hard it was to make a dollar and how easy it was for government to take it away. Government had its hands in literally every aspect of our
business. Even as a teenager, that really bothered me. Government charged sales tax to our customers, it charged property tax on the building we were in, it taxed the equipment inside the building, and it charged us income tax on what we took in.
We were struggling just to survive, and government was making it harder, not easier.In that store, poring over those books, I learned lessons that shaped me for life. By virtue of hard work and sheer will, my mother built the gift shop in our living
room into a multimillion-dollar high end clothing store. And I learned that small businesses like ours are the engines that create jobs and grow the economy. Government is the deadweight we all drag behind us.
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Source: Can't Is Not an Option, by Gov. Nikki Haley, p. 24-25
Jesse Ventura on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Apr 1, 2008)
Remove "license tab fees": a hidden sales tax
I did my best to correct what I felt was a 10 year sales tax masquerading as something called license tab fees. You already paid a sales tax when you purchased your car.
But, to be able to get your license plates, you also had to pay an additional fee to the state--a percentage based upon the price you paid for the vehicle.
I happened to have brought a new Porsche in 1990 and, just to drive my car, it cost me upwards for $4,000 in license tab fees over the course of 10 years.
How can you have a licensing system based upon the street value of the car? If you're going to do something like that, then base it on the weight of the car--that's what tears up the streets!
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Source: Don`t Start the Revolution, by Jesse Ventura, p.145
Mike Gravel on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Nov 11, 2007)
Eliminate income tax so the wealthy can’t “game” the system
Gravel has another controversial proposal: to eliminate the income tax and fund the government solely through sales taxes. While appealing, again, to libertarians, the proposal is bound to alienate liberals who might otherwise sympathize with the
ex-senator: Sales taxes are considered “regressive,” meaning they take proportionately more from those with lower incomes than from the better-off.
But Gravel maintains that since the present tax system has become corrupted by “wealthy people gaming the system,” his fix would provide a solution; to help the poor, he’d provide a guaranteed
minimum income, distributed through Social Security. Getting rid of the income tax was until fairly recently a topic relegated to the far right wing.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: The Contenders, by Laura Flanders, p.197
Mike Gravel on Sales Tax:
(Health Care Sep 13, 2007)
Universal coverage with guaranteed equal care
Q: Do you favor universal coverage without exception, and how would you pay for it?A: I’d pay for it with a retail sales tax. I favor universal coverage of quality medical care. I favor it through a device of using vouchers where everybody would be
able to get a voucher. They’d sign up for it every year. It would guarantee them equal health care. All citizens would get the same health care. They would be able choose from insurance plans or a government plan like Medicare.
That’s how we would have health care, and the only way you’re going to pay for it is not by saddling business. All you do by forcing business to pay for health care or
passing a law telling people they have to go buy insurance, which is a subsidy for the insurance companies, all these plans are going backwards.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: Huffington Post Mash-Up: 2007 Democratic on-line debate
Mike Gravel on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Aug 1, 2007)
I advocate a FairTax: pay as you spend
On the Fair Tax: "The biggest problem we have domestically is our tax system. Under the current system, if you're poor and have no income, you get nothing. Average people carry the load, and the poor are unattended. So, I advocate a Fair Tax.
What we'll do under this plan is send you a check every month for the sales tax that you will pay on the essentials of life. This will protect the poor.
It will cover their basic expenses. The rest of us will pay as we spend. The more you spend, the more you pay. If you don't want to pay, don't spend.
So, this will create a cash flow to the poor, not only to the average citizen."
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: National Review magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mike Gravel on Sales Tax:
(Environment Jul 23, 2007)
To get Americans to conserve, change the tax structure
Q: How do you get Americans to conserve?A: Very simple, change our tax structure. Have a fair tax where people are taxed on what they spend rather than what they earn. And our tax system is totally corrupt right now.
And so if we now have a retail sales tax, you’ll take this nation of ours from a consuming nation to a savings nation. And that’s the most significant thing we can do to alter climate change.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: 2007 YouTube Democratic Primary debate, Charleston SC
Mike Gravel on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Jun 28, 2007)
Tax code is corrupt & serves the wealthy
The tax code stands that high and there’s not a human being alive that understands it. Do you think it’s accident that all of a sudden we wake up & the wealthy aren’t paying a fair share? The only way they’re going to pay a fair share is wipe out the
income tax--it is corrupt, it’s corrupting our society--and begin to put in place a tax that everybody will know what everybody’s paying, and that’s a retail sales tax. You can make it progressive. A tax where everybody will know what everybody is paying
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: 2007 Democratic Primary Debate at Howard University
Mike Gravel on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Feb 21, 2007)
National sales tax; no exceptions; prebates for essentials
The income tax has been gamed by the wealthy people. I for the Fair Tax [national sales tax]. The essentials of life that we have -- food, lodging, medicine, what have you -- we can deal with that. We can’t provide an exception.
When you go to the grocery store, you’ll pay the tax on it. Because if you start giving an exception, then Katy bar the door, the wealthy will game the system again. But what we can do is create a prebate.
Determine what the average cost of essential is to average American, and then turn it around and multiply that by the tax, take the amount of tax, divide it by 12, and send every single registered American a check at the beginning of the month to
cover what he would pay in the way of taxes on the essentials of life. Now that creates a cash flow, and then you go get your paycheck, and there’s no tax deductions at the federal level.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: 2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Carson City Nevada
Mike Gravel on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Jan 1, 2007)
Supports a national sales tax to replace IRS
Gravel’s campaign is based primarily on his ardent support for direct democracy (the National Initiative), but also emphasizes his support for a national sales tax and abolition of the IRS,
immediate withdrawal from the war in Iraq, a single-payer national health care system, and term limits during his campaign.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: Wikipedia.org article, “Mike Gravel”
Mike Gravel on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Dec 25, 2006)
Repeal the income tax and close down the IRS
The Gravel Agenda: When elected President by the American people, I will:- Repeal the income tax and closing down the IRS replacing it with a Fair Tax (a national sales tax with a pre-bate for necessities)
that will reverse the flight of jobs and capital abroad while balancing the budget;
- Fund education as the top priority it must be in a democracy.
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Source: 2008 Presidential campaign website, gravel2008.us, “Issues”
Mike Gravel on Sales Tax:
(Corporations Dec 10, 2006)
Corporate taxes just get passed on to consumers
Much demagoguery swirls around issues of taxation: - “Soak the rich” is one approach, but it never happens regardless of whether the liberals or conservatives hold political power. The wealthy have the money to game the system.
- “Tax the
corporations” is another approach, but corporate taxes are built into the cost of products or services, so consumers are actually paying those taxes, too. It’s a hidden sales tax.
- I subscribe to a sales tax system, most of which is included in what is
called the Fair Tax. The Fair Tax meets the fairness criteria: simplicity, transparency and no exceptions.
- The goal is to keep tax reform revenue-neutral. It is not a tax-cut program. Whatever the tax rate on new goods & services that will produce the
same amount of money currently raised by the income tax is the sales tax rate. Best estimates indicate that the rate would be somewhere between 20% & 25%. Also, best estimates indicate that it would take a year to transition from one system to the other.
Click for Mike Gravel on other issues.
Source: Press release, “Unequivocally Common Sense”
Bill Nelson on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Nov 1, 2006)
National sales tax raises taxes $4,500 versus income tax
Q: The ‘fair tax’ (a national sales tax on every purchase or service, to replace the Internal Revenue code) would have to be 50% to match the income tax revenue we now take in. What about the 34% of people who don’t earn enough to pay any federal income
tax?HARRIS: There would be a 22% decrease in prices because of embedded costs due to income taxes. The fair tax would not charge people at the poverty level, by paying a ‘prebate’ so it’s revenue-neutral. It would result in growth in our economy.
Imagine keeping 100% of your paycheck, without withholding, and without 5 billion hours of tax compliance annually. It’s worthy of debate.
Q: What’s wrong with abolishing the IRS and going to a 23% sales tax?
NELSON: The average taxpayer would
be paying $4,500 more per year in taxes under that plan than what they do now. 95% of all Americans would end up paying more tax under that plan.
Click for Bill Nelson on other issues.
Source: FL 2006 Senate Debate moderated by Tim Russert (Xref Harris)
Mike Gravel on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Apr 17, 2006)
Tax system unfairness only superceded by incomprehensibility
The Fair Tax: Describing the current tax system as one whose “unfairness is only superceded by its incomprehensibility” the senator promised
to place before the people “a straightforward national sales tax with proper consideration for the necessities of life through a pre-bate.”
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Source: Press release “Announces Run for President”
Deval Patrick on Sales Tax:
(Energy & Oil Sep 15, 2005)
Tax credits for energy efficient cars
My administration will give excise and sales tax credits for consumer purchases of energy efficient cars and appliances, and for the use of energy-smart construction materials. Power plants are essential sources of electric power and good jobs, but
they can run with fewer emissions. We will enforce regulations limiting carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, and work with all operators to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants across the entire region.
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Source: Moving Massachusetts Forward, Patrick’s policy booklet, p.32
Jesse Ventura on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Jan 3, 2002)
Tax increases may be necessary, but use every dollar well
Every legitimate option should be on the table and therefore we should talk about taxes that could be raised to avoid even bigger spending cuts. Some people have suggested increasing the gas tax. Others have suggested raising the tax on cigarettes,
extending the sales tax to clothing or re-visiting my proposal to lower the sales tax but extend it to some services. We will work with you, not only to find every dollar, but also to ensure that every dollar we find is used to its greatest value.
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Source: State of the State address to 2002 Minnesota legislature
Jesse Ventura on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Jan 4, 2001)
Find a way for state taxes to be collected on ecommerce
The growth of ecommerce, while essential for economic growth, causes a growing tax loss because sellers from outside Minnesota don't collect our sales tax and put our Minnesota retailers at a competitive disadvantage. We must find a way to create a
way for out of state sellers to charge and collect our sales tax, just as our in state businesses must. If we don't, more of the tax burden will be shifted to those who find themselves on the wrong side of the "digital divide" and that's not fair.
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Source: 2001 State of the State Address to Minnesota Legislature
Jesse Ventura on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Jul 2, 2000)
Replace income with national sales tax
I’d like to see us do away with income tax entirely and go for a national sales tax. The government could collect the money it needs by placing a tax on the goods and services we buy. Then states could add their own taxes on top of that.
A fair national sales tax wouldn’t touch the necessities of life like food and clothing. It would make sure that people were able to provide for themselves with the basics before it collected any tax. Taxes would only be collected on optional purchases.
That would make the taxpayers much more powerful. We could decide how much tax we’re going to pay by controlling our level of consumption. We would have the option of hanging onto our money and living off the basics, or of spending
as much as we feel like. We wouldn’t be penalized for saving or investing. We wouldn’t have to hand the government money just because we’re looking our for our own financial welfare.
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Source: Do I Stand Alone, by Jesse Ventura, p.211
Jesse Ventura on Sales Tax:
(Technology Jul 2, 2000)
Leave Internet sales tax to states
When I was at the annual governors’ conference, we discussed the question of whether or not states should be taxing Internet sales and access. Any time somebody’s making money, the federal government is sure to stand up and take notice.
I don’t believe this issue is any of the federal government’s business. The federal government doesn’t have the right to tell states whether or not to tax something.
It should be left to the individual states to decide if they want to tax Internet purchases. I understand the concern that many governors expressed, that stores are losing important sales tax revenue to Internet sales.
But I suspect that a tax on Internet purchases would put a severe damper on an industry that’s still getting its feet wet.
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Source: Do I Stand Alone, by Jesse Ventura, p.218
Donald Trump on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Dec 10, 1999)
Personally avoids sales tax, but knows many people like it
Asked to discuss the idea of a national sales tax, Trump responded: “How do I feel about sales tax? I try to avoid paying it whenever possible. But the idea is an idea that a lot of people like very much.”
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Source: nytimes.com/library/politics
Jesse Ventura on Sales Tax:
(Tax Reform Jan 1, 1999)
Replace income tax with 15% national sales tax
We pay way too much of our income to the government. I want to see income tax done away with entirely. Income tax could be replaced with a 15% across-the-board sales tax. It would have to be done nationally--that’s the only way it could work. After
it’s in place nationally, then each individual state could add its own taxes on top of that.I’m totally sold on this idea. We’d be able to take home the gross on our paychecks! We’d be in control of how much tax we paid by choosing how much
to buy. We wouldn’t be penalized any more for working hard and saving money! And it would be much fairer, because in the current system there are plenty of industries (legal and illegal) that get away with paying no taxes--gambling, drug dealers,
cottage industries. But since everybody has to buy things, the tax would cover everyone, even illegal immigrants. But it’s got to start with the feds. And it will only happen if we, the citizens, show a lot of support for it.
Click for Jesse Ventura on other issues.
Source: Ain’t Got Time To Bleed, p.272
Page last updated: Mar 02, 2022
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