With the fall of USAID and the rise of government audits of agencies like the Department of Defense and the Department of Education, it is clear that Trump—barely a month into retaking the Oval Office—is setting his sights on the Herculean task of draining the federal swamp. If this administration is truly serious about ramping up government audits and slashing waste which has been leaching off the American taxpayer for decades now, why not go after one of the biggest sources of waste? The Federal Income Tax.
Since the passing of the 16th Amendment 112 years ago, the federal government has had the unfettered ability to collect taxes from whatever source it pleases—including our personal incomes. In 1913, the lowest tax bracket was 1 percent, and the highest was 7 percent on all income over $500,000 (about $11 million in today’s dollars). Today, the lowest tax bracket is 10 percent, and the highest is 37 percent for income at and over $609,351. If only the founders could see us now.
Instead of disproportionality seizing Americans’ hard-earned money, the government should entertain the idea of a national sales tax—a single tax bracket where everyone pays the same tax percentage for all commercial products, regardless of their income. While the U.S.’s current progressive tax system with 7 tax brackets is clearly doing little to support American citizens, and much less their neglected roads, a single flat sales tax could solve our government waste epidemic.
A National Sales Tax: It’s Basic Economics
While the rich are able to hide their income in offshore bank accounts and tax havens, the middle class has been the butt of the joke for government funding. While the rich and the poor are both shielded from most tax obligations, hard-working, middle-class Americans are too often left to foot the bill. So, what is the point of preserving an outdated idea like federal income tax—a concept our Constitution did not intend to provide for?
A national sales tax would immediately simplify the tax code into one tax bracket; all sales, from groceries, to cars, to luxury goods, and everyday items, would be taxed at the same exact rate. A national sales tax would also do away with personal and corporate taxes, consequently allowing every American to keep all their hard-earned money. In fact, a national flat sales tax added immediately on any purchase would save Americans more money than if a mandatory federal income tax was imposed on all their income and investments.
A national sales tax would effectively remove income tax bias against one’s savings, as consumers are taxed only when they decide to purchase goods. Simply speaking, people keep more of their own money—and any investments they make—and are only taxed when they choose to spend. A great breakdown explaining how a flat sales tax could actually increase living standards can be found here.
But what about the impoverished? While everyone would be taxed under this system, a universal credit could be established to protect taxpayers from the burden of paying tax on purchases up until the poverty line; these could come in the form of rebates to low-income families to offset the newly imposed national sales tax. Otherwise, regardless of one’s income, class status, upbringing, or Cayman Islands connections, everyone would be taxed the same amount. Is that not equitable?
This idea appears to be getting more popular by the day. Just this year, Representative Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) introduced H.R. 25, the Fair Tax Act, a bill to replace our flawed tax code with a national consumption tax known as the Fair Tax. “The Fair Tax is exactly that–fair. It is the only tax proposal out there that is pro-growth, simple, and allows Americans to keep every cent of their hard-earned money, while eliminating the need for the IRS altogether. I’m proud to lead this Georgia-grown legislation that puts the American people, not bureaucrats, in charge of their tax rate,” remarked Representative Carter.
“The Fair Tax simplifies the system while also broadening the revenue base, ensuring everyone contributes fairly while reducing tax loopholes and unnecessary complexity. By encouraging savings and generating stable, predictable income, it provides a sustainable path to reducing our national debt and setting the course for our country to get back on the right fiscal path,” offered Representative Rich McCormick (R-GA).
Coupled with the fact that DOGE is unearthing hundreds of billions in government waste, and the current administration is working at cutting superfluous programs which do nothing to help us at home, the federal government may actually end up with more revenue under a national sales tax system that it does currently under the hardly transparent 75,000-page federal tax code currently maintained by the IRS.
But if we cut the federal income tax, the government will lose out on billions in crucial funding! Between 2015 and 2024 alone, the federal government seized over $44 trillion dollars. To top that off, the federal government has already collected $1.60 trillion this fiscal year. These trillions in taxpayer dollars must be going to causes which significantly impact our daily lives, right?
Government Priorities, Government Waste
Lack of oversight, mismanagement, and careless government spending has had the federal government practically throwing our tax dollars to the wind. Let’s take a look at just a small sample of what our trillions of tax dollars have been funding:
In fiscal year 2024, the federal government has spent over $35 billion in foreign aid, and offered almost 6 million government contracts—with tens of billions gifted to companies like Lockheed Martin, Humana Government Business, and UT-Battelle LLC, a management contractor for the Department of Energy.
Government officials have been busying themselves with providing tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars for questionable programs while American citizens are left in the dust. While the Biden administration generously gave our hard-earned money to foreign powers and politically incentivized NGO-led programs, what has the government done for its own citizens?
It appears that, in times of need, Americans are left to struggle with barely any government assistance—despite the trillions it receives from us in any given year. The victims of Hurricane Helene, the East Palestine chemical spill, the Maui fires, and even the contamination of Flint, Michigan are still struggling to pick up the pieces and get on with their lives. It’s time for this theft to stop.
Considering this widespread abuse of our tax dollars, Americans would stand to benefit from a national sales tax system, one which is simplified, transparent, and actually accounts for every dollar taken from hard-working Americans.
In any regard, it would certainly be an improvement over our current system of haphazardly throwing money at questionable overseas “programs.”
American Thinker
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