[central_va]

So would you be in favor of completely replacing the income tax with a system of tariffs and national sales taxes?

Were Washington and Madison socialists?

[kevkrom]

So would you be in favor of completely replacing the income tax with a system of tariffs and national sales taxes?

Yes, but I'd only use tariffs as a political weapon - if country X places a tariff on our goods, we place an equivalent tariff on theirs, as a tactic to get both tariffs eliminated, not as a long-term source of trade protection or revenue.

Eliminating corporate income taxes will do far more to improve American economic activity than tariffs ever could, even if they worked the way you think they'd would. (Historically, however, tariffs as trade protection lead more to stagnation than to development, as that safety net becomes a hammock.)

But again, the key point here is that the best prescription is to lessen government involvement in the long run.