Web Video: See what Rossi’s contract means for your grocery bill
With handpicked Republican establishment candidate Dino Rossi and his Senate Republican friends playing political ping pong with the critical issue of sales tax deductibility for Washington state families, it is worth taking a look at some of Rossi’s other tax plans.
Back in the dog days of summer, Dino Rossi signed the Contract from America. It has several right-wing planks, including repealing health care and exploring all the proven energy reserves. One of items in the Contract calls for “Fundamental Tax Reform,” which they explain as “a simple and fair single-rate tax system.” This is typically understood to be a flat national income tax or a flat national sales tax, more commonly known as The FairTax.
Through some fuzzy math, FairTax proponents say it would be a 23% tax on most goods and services. But budget experts recognize that in order to be revenue neutral, a national sales tax would need to be at least 30% if not much higher. (Institute on Taxation and Ecomonic Policy, “The Effects of Replacing Most Federal Taxes with a National Sales Tax A State-by-State Distributional Analysis,” September 2004)
“At a time when families are stretching their budgets to make every penny count, Washington state just can’t afford Dino Rossi’s FairTax plan. We’ve already seen the types of political games he plays with sales tax deductibility. A thirty percent sales tax would be a crushing burden on families, seniors and small businesses. Dino thinks this would simplify things, but it’s simply not on the side of Washington state,“ said Sadie Weiner, Communications Director for the Washington State Democrats.
10/1/10
