As of July 2012, foreign-held U.S. sovereign debt was greater than $5.4 trillion - roughly 33% of the total U.S. debt.
Americans owning American debt is not the problem. That money stays within our borders. Foreign-held debt, however, will exit our borders and very possibly never return - unless it is used to purchase additional debt.
We therefore call on Congress and the President to pass a 5% national sales tax - to apply to all sales of goods, services, and financial transactions - whose revenues will be used solely to retire foreign-held debt.
This tax will continue in perpetuity, becoming inactive when foreign-held debt reaches zero and becoming active again when such debt reaches 5% of GDP.