Texas 2017 - 85th Regular

Texas House Bill HCR38 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Stephenson H.C.R. No. 38
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4	4	HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
5	5	WHEREAS, History has demonstrated that the levying of income
6	6	taxes gives government too much power over citizens, and
7	7	accordingly, the nation's founding fathers did not impose a federal
8	8	income tax in the United States Constitution; and
9	9	WHEREAS, The nation's current income tax system, established
10	10	via the enactment of the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States
11	11	Constitution, is unfair and inequitable, and it unnecessarily
12	12	intrudes on the privacy and civil rights of U.S. citizens; it
13	13	imposes unacceptable and needless administrative and compliance
14	14	costs on individuals and businesses, and it requires individuals to
15	15	prepare annual tax returns using many complicated forms, resulting
16	16	in unintentional errors that are severely punished; in addition, it
17	17	hides the true costs of government by embedding taxes in the costs
18	18	of everything that Americans buy; compliance does not occur at
19	19	adequate levels, which raises the tax burden on law-abiding
20	20	citizens; and
21	21	WHEREAS, Hindering economic growth, the current tax system
22	22	diminishes the standard of living, impedes the international
23	23	competitiveness of industry, and lowers productivity; it slows the
24	24	capital formation necessary for real wages to steadily increase and
25	25	reduces savings and investment by taxing the same income multiple
26	26	times; moreover, it penalizes marriage and impedes upward social
27	27	mobility; and
28	28	WHEREAS, Federal payroll taxes, including social security
29	29	and Medicare payroll taxes and self-employment taxes, destroy jobs
30	30	by raising employment costs; these taxes lead to higher rates of
31	31	unemployment and have a disproportionately adverse impact on
32	32	lower-income Americans; and
33	33	WHEREAS, Federal estate and gift taxes impose unacceptably
34	34	high tax-planning costs on family-owned businesses and farms, and
35	35	families are often forced to sell their holdings in order to pay
36	36	them; furthermore, these taxes discourage capital formation and
37	37	entrepreneurship, fostering the continued dominance of large
38	38	enterprises over small, family-owned companies and farms; and
39	39	WHEREAS, In The Federalist No.21, published in 1787,
40	40	Alexander Hamilton wrote: "It is a signal advantage of taxes on
41	41	articles of consumption, that they contain in their own nature a
42	42	security against excess"; a broad-based national sales tax on goods
43	43	and services purchased for final consumption would promote
44	44	fairness, economic growth, and savings and investment; it would
45	45	raise the standard of living and improve upward social mobility by
46	46	enhancing productivity and international competitiveness and by
47	47	reducing administrative burdens on the American taxpayer; at the
48	48	same time, a national sales tax would respect the privacy interests
49	49	and civil rights of taxpayers; such a tax would be similar in many
50	50	respects to the sales and use taxes that are now authorized in 45 of
51	51	the 50 states; and
52	52	WHEREAS, Most of the practical experience in administering
53	53	sales taxes is found at the state level; accordingly, a national
54	54	retail sales tax could be efficiently implemented by fostering
55	55	administration and collection of a federal sales tax at the state
56	56	level, in return for a reasonable administration fee paid to the
57	57	states; coordinating federal and state collection and enforcement
58	58	efforts to the maximum extent possible would further contribute to
59	59	the smooth transition to a national retail sales tax; while
60	60	businesses would incur costs in collecting and remitting taxes,
61	61	they would receive reasonable compensation for their efforts; and
62	62	WHEREAS, In every respect, a national retail sales tax is
63	63	more equitable and advantageous than the present system of relying
64	64	on income taxes; now, therefore, be it
65	65	RESOLVED, That the 84th Legislature of the State of Texas
66	66	hereby urge the Congress of the United States to abolish the current
67	67	income-based system of taxation, to enact a national retail sales
68	68	tax, and to propose and submit to the states for ratification the
69	69	repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States
70	70	Constitution; and, be it further
71	71	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
72	72	copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
73	73	the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of
74	74	Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the
75	75	members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that
76	76	this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a
77	77	memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.