No Income Tax: In a bill that has a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming law the Fair Tax Act of 2011 introduced by Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Georgia) seeks to abolish the IRS and the Federal income tax. The proposed replacement is a national sales tax that would be administered by the states. The bill has 54 delusional co-sponsors.

Simplified Income Tax: Slightly less delusional is Rep. David Dreier (R-California) who introduced HR 99. Dubbed the Fair and Simple Tax Act of 2011 the bill proposed last month would create an optional one-page tax form with rates of 10%, 15% and 30%. Certain deductions such as mortgage interest and charitable contributions would be preserved.

Permanent Tax Cuts: Introduced last month by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) HR 86 seeks to permanently extend the Bush-era tax cuts, repeal the Federal estate tax and the AMT on individuals. A similar measure also introduced last month, HR 123 by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Georgia), also would repeal the Federal estate tax.

FinReg Repeal: Rep. Michele Bachmann’s been busy. On the heels of HR 86 (see above) she’s introduced HR 87 which would repeal last year’s Dodd-Frank financial reform (casually known as “FinReg”). The bill has 7 co-sponsors and has been referred to 5 House committees for consideration.

Social Security Tax Cut: When Bill wasn’t busy trying to inhale he managed to push through a 1993 income tax hike on Social Security benefits. Individual taxpayers with income above $34,000 and couples with income exceeding $44,000 could be taxed on up to 85% of their benefits. HR 149 recently introduced by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) would reverse Clinton’s tax hike by restoring a 1983 law in which individual taxpayers with income above $25,000 and couples with income exceeding $32,000 could be taxed on up to 50% of their benefits.

Increasing Financial Literacy: A bill introduced last month (HR 300) by Rep. Andre Carson (D-Indiana) would create a Federal grant program intended to increase financial literacy among teens and young adults. Grants would be directed to organizations that could develop and implement financial education programs for students ages 15 – 24. Topics would include financial planning, saving, budgeting and debt management.