FACT CHECK: GOP Economic Agenda is 30% Sales Tax, Shielding Wealthy Tax Cheats, Cutting Social Security and Medicare

A quick reminder for Sarah Huckabee Sanders: the new House MAGA majority has already laid out their top economic priorities: imposing huge tax increases like a 30% national sales tax on the middle class, shielding ultra-wealthy tax cheats from paying their fair share, and attacking Social Security and Medicare – all while threatening default instead of paying our bills.

In a move that could force average Americans to shoulder a massive tax hike while decreasing taxes for the ultra wealthy, the GOP is pushing a bill that would create a national sales tax.

CNN: “A nationwide sales tax could leave low- and middle-income people worse off. The current tax system is progressive, meaning it takes a larger percentage of income from high-earners than low-income groups. Even with the monthly tax rebate, a national sales tax would still be less progressive. A 2011 independent analysis of a similar national sales tax found that, on average, most income groups would pay more tax than they did under the federal tax system at the time – except the top 5% of earners who would see a tax cut.”

Adding insult to injury, House Republicans’ first piece of legislation was a bill that would protect tax cheats and let the extremely wealthy avoid paying their fair share in taxes.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “House GOP’s First Bill: A Misleading Gambit to Protect Interests of Wealthy Tax Cheats”

Salon: “‘Very first bill’: McCarthy pledges repeal of IRS funding meant to target wealthy tax cheats”

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: “IRS Funding Repeal Could Cost Over $100 Billion, Encourage Tax Cheating”

Now, the GOP is making cuts to Social Security and Medicare the next plank of their MAGA agenda.

Bloomberg: “House Republican committee and caucus chairs are pushing to create panels to study extending Social Security and Medicare solvency as part of any debt limit deal, even as Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the entitlement programs are off the table….The discussion about creating commissions indicates some policy proposals floated by Republicans on entitlements — such as increasing the eligibility age or adding means-testing measures — are a possibility, even as GOP leaders say they’re not negotiating policy changes directly as part of a debt-limit vote.”

Washington Post: “In recent days, a group of GOP lawmakers has called for the creation of special panels that might recommend changes to Social Security and Medicare, which face genuine solvency issues that could result in benefit cuts within the next decade. Others in the party have resurfaced more detailed plans to cut costs, including by raising the Social Security retirement age to 70, targeting younger Americans who have yet to obtain federal benefits.”

Insider: “Republicans’ plans to slash Social Security and Medicare are becoming clearer: ‘We have no choice but to make hard decisions’”

Congressman Michael Waltz: “I agree with Jim Jordan that we are going to carve out woke policies out of the military… [but] if we really want to talk about the debt and spending, it’s the entitlements program.”