"HR 4646" has consistently been a popular bill search term on POPVOX, even though no current bill numbered HR 4646 exists. POPVOX users searching for HR 4646 tell us that they are looking for an Obama Administration proposal that would create a 1% tax on debit card usage and banking transactions. For the most part, they heard about this bill from a mass email forwarded to them.
The Obama Administration has not proposed or recommended placing a 1% tax on financial transactions. In fact, the rumor has been so widely circulated, that Snopes even covered it.
The 1% transaction tax proposal has been previously introduced — but not in this Congress.
Representative Chakah Fattah introduced the 1% transaction tax in his bill, the Debt Free America Act. In the 111th Congress, this bill received the bill number HR 4646. (Read comments from POPVOX users.) In the 112th Congress, Rep. Fattah re-introduced the Debt Free America Act on March 16, 2011 with the bill number HR 1125.
This post was originally written by Peter Cook, and published on April 25, 2012.
