I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2393 

To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop and present to Congress 

a legislative proposal to establish a consumption tax. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 17, 2013 

Mr. FATTAH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop and 

present to Congress a legislative proposal to establish 

a consumption tax. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Growth & 

5 Tax Reform Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States, from its beginning in 

9 1790 to the present, has been free of a national debt 

10 for only two years, 1834 and 1835. 

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1 (2) After 1946, the national debt as a percent2 age of GDP declined, reaching a low of 32.5 percent 

3 in 1981. 

4 (3) The large budget deficits of the 1980s and 

5 1990s reversed this trend and pushed the percentage 

6 to another high of 49.5 percent in 1993. 

7 (4) The Federal budget surpluses from fiscal 

8 year 1998 to fiscal year 2001 were used to retire a 

9 portion of the publicly held national debt. 

10 (5) Between fiscal year 1997 and fiscal year 

11 2001, the publicly held portion of the national debt 

12 declined by more than $400 billion. 

13 (6) Since fiscal year 2002, a return to budget 

14 deficits has caused the debt to grow again. 

15 (7) The national debt has grown from 75.5 mil16 lion in 1790 to $16,781,967,702,405.37, as of April 

17 19, 2013. 

18 (8) Congress must consider innovative tax 

19 strategies to meet this fiscal challenge. 

20 (9) A consumption tax will assist in decreasing 

21 the total public debt outstanding by broadening the 

22 tax base to include revenue from untapped sources: 

23 foreign tourists, undocumented immigrants, the un24 derground economy, and multi-million dollar busi25 ness transactions. 

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1 (10) Implementing a consumption tax would 

2 simplify the current tax system. 

3 (11) At least 84 countries subscribe to some 

4 form of consumption taxation, including Afghani5 stan, Albania, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Baha6 mas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, 

7 Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, 

8 Cape Verde, Chile, China, Comoros, Congo (DRC), 

9 Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fin10 land, France, Ghana, Germany, Greece, Guinea11 Bissau, Indonesia, Ireland, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, 

12 Japan, Kenya, Korea, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, 

13 Liberia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Mada14 gascar, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Nether15 lands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Por16 tugal, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, 

17 Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slo18 venia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swe19 den, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad & 

20 Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, Uru21 guay, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Zambia, and 

22 Zimbabwe. 

23 (12) Under a consumption tax, personal savings 

24 are excluded from the taxable base thereby reward25 ing taxpayers for saving. 

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1 SEC. 3. CONSUMPTION TAX LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 

4 Treasury shall develop and submit to Congress a legisla5 tive proposal to establish a consumption tax that is broad6 based and progressive in nature. 

7 (b) PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Such proposal shall set forth 

9 the details of such a consumption tax and the rates 

10 that the Secretary estimates would eliminate the 

11 total public debt outstanding in 10 years, 20 years, 

12 and 30 years, respectively, under each of the fol13 lowing scenarios: 

14 (A) The consumption tax would be in addi15 tion to all Federal taxes in effect on the date 

16 of the enactment of this Act. 

17 (B) The consumption tax would replace the 

18 individual income tax imposed by section 1 of 

19 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 on earned 

20 income (as defined in section 32(c)(2) of such 

21 Code). 

22 (C) The consumption tax would replace the 

23 corporate income tax imposed by section 11 of 

24 such Code. 

25 (2) FEASIBILITY AND COMPARATIVE ANAL26 YSIS.—Such proposal shall also include— 

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1 (A) an analysis of the feasibility of, any 

2 barriers to, and any advantages or disadvan3 tages of, a Federal consumption tax, and 

4 (B) a comparative analysis of the function 

5 and character of consumption taxes in other 

6 countries that impose a consumption tax. 

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