What is a national consumption tax? How it differs from income tax.
This is the title of an article that appeared in USA Today on January 4, 2026. While the mainstream press has a long history of being biased against the FAIRtax, this article was much more balanced. Here are some of the points the article made:
- A consumption tax is a tax on goods or services. It taxes what you spend, rather than what you earn. In the United States, consumption taxes come in the form of retail sales taxes and excise taxes (that’s a tax imposed on certain goods or activities, like alcohol or fuel, as well as tariffs).
- A national consumption tax would create a federal tax on consumer goods, possibly to be emphasized over (or even replace) income and payroll taxes, which fund Social Security, Medicare and other government programs.
- Other countries like Japan, have a 7.8% standard and 6.24% reduced tax rate for items like food, drink and some newspapers.
- Over 175 countries, including all of Europe, impose a Value-Added Tax, which taxes goods and services at each stage of production.
- Consumption taxes in the United States are on a state-by-state basis. Almost every state imposes a sales tax. The exceptions are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon, which instead allows cities to charge a local sales tax. California boasts the country’s highest state sales tax rate at 7.25%.
- The FairTax Act would eliminate most current federal taxes in favor of a 23% federal sales tax.
- According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the Fair Tax was first introduced in Congress in 1999 and has been reintroduced in each Congress since. In other words, you can probably expect more Fair Tax legislation in the future.
CONCLUSION
While the article wasn’t an in-depth analysis of the FAIRtax, it is an indicator that President Trump’s pronouncements about ending the income tax are being taken more seriously by the national media.
The fact that this article was published at all shows that a national consumption tax is being considered as a viable alternative to the present income/payroll tax system. They even mention that it might lead to the elimination of the payroll tax—which of course the FAIRtax does.
As we know, the FAIRtax, a national retail sales tax on new retail goods and retail services, provides a family credit so that all purchases up to the poverty level for each family are not taxed. There is no withholding from your paycheck and YOU NEVER HAVE TO FILE A TAX RETURN TELLING THE GOVERNMENT HOW MUCH YOU EARNED AND HOW MUCH YOU SPENT, AND YOU’LL NEVER BE HARASSED BY THE IRS EVER AGAIN.
Many of you have labored tirelessly for freedom from the federal income tax and the IRS. You deserve a great deal of credit for your efforts to educate the American people on the need to fund the American government in a way that is good for America and returns freedom to the American people.
It is imperative, though, that we don’t replace the current income tax and the IRS with an alternative system that can still be manipulated by the Ruling Elite. We must let Congress and the President know that the best way to replace the income tax and the IRS is with the FAIRtax.
Make no mistake about it. The FAIRtax is a grave threat to the Ruling Elites. It will strip them of their power and their ability to control us though the tax system. Their opposition to the FAIRtax will be fierce and unrelenting. And don’t think for an instant that they won’t use half-truths, deception and downright lies in their desperate attempt to hang on to their power.
However, with the support of this President, we can finally eliminate the income tax and the IRS!!!
Of course, the best course of action is to not only repeal the income tax and abolish the IRS but to repeal the 16th Amendment as well so no future administration can ever shackle the American people with an income tax again.
We must come together and ensure that real tax reform, the FAIRtax, is not subverted by the Elites in D.C.
This will take the diligent efforts of all of us. We need your financial assistance, and we need your grass roots assistance.
If you have contacts that will allow us to get more information to President Trump about the FAIRtax please let us know.
Please email us at info@fairtax.org and we will give you some options on how you can best help us.
At a minimum, please call your Congressional representative and ask if he or she supports the FAIRtax. If so, thank him/her for their support and suggest they become a cosponsor of HR-25 if they’re not one already. If not, ask why not. If your representative claims to be unfamiliar with the FAIRtax, offer to have someone come to their office and explain it to them.
Please go to this link to invest in AFFT and help us pass the FAIRtax. It’s an investment in your and your family’s future.
THE SOLUTION—PASS THE FAIRTAX!
Why would D.C. pass the FAIRtax and give up this almost unlimited source of donations? The only way that they will is if the rest of us demand it!
Isn’t it time to end this ludicrous tax collection system and the IRS?
HELP BRING ABOUT REAL TAX REFORM AND STOP FUTURE IRS ABUSES
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Please go to this link to invest in AFFT and help us pass the FAIRtax. It’s an investment in your and your family’s future.