Posted on 03/10/2004 3:01:26 PM PST by chance33_98
So how did they manage to get wealthy without a national sales tax?
BTW, if you're in business I don't see how you can think a sales tax would change your filing requirements. You'd have to file and remit taxes once a month rather than every quarter and if you're in construction it isn't likely you'd be exempt...Oh and that means those pesky "compliance costs" are back again.
I for one cannot sleep at night knowing that every Iraq man, woman and child has no TIVO. Let's spend billions more to give TIVO to every Iraqi. Then, when their folly in "Democracy" inevitably fails (like all Arab Democracies do) and they pass Sharia law, they can hurl the TIVOs at the American Embassy.
How about the mortgage deduction?
No, if the proverbial rich guy is free to make the choice, he's not being penalized for his success. Only his choice to spend it on taxable items.
ARGH! You can say that about any tax! How is the income tax any different in this regard? They're taxing your INCOME. Don't you have a problem with that? Marx and Engels favored taxing income. You figure it out from there.
My compliance requirements, which are in place now with FL's sales tax, are nothing compared to Federal tax. I go to quickbooks, generate a sales tax report, and copy the numbers onto a form. Then I mail it with a check. Big deal. (I do collect some sales tax on items purchased for say a "do it yourselfer" with no installation)
Complying with a 60,000 page Federal tax code is a whole different ballgame.
Look, I'm not going to change your mind, obviously. I Just can't see why you love the income tax so much. But to each his own. If you like living a quasi communist tax philosophy, be my guest.
ARGH! You can say that about any tax! How is the income tax any different in this regard? They're taxing your INCOME. Don't you have a problem with that? Marx and Engels favored taxing income. You figure it out from there.
1) I favor the lowest possible taxes for people of all income tax levels
2) You are completely missing my original and repeated point: people with income levels $30,000 - $200,000 will be forced to dramatically change their lifestyles if this country switches from the income tax to the "fair tax" system
The income tax system actually leaves people in the middle with more disposable income and more buying power than the "fair tax" would.
Perhaps you are financially secure and invested such that the fair tax would benefit you (I'm not bashing the wealthy - I love them and hope they get more tax breaks because they are the driving force of our economy) but, I will likely never break $200,000 in my lifetime - and there are plenty of silly things I still wish to buy like clothes, cars, travel, etc.
How do you figure that? The cost of goods will remain roughly the same. The 23% that the NRST tacks on to new items is already built in by taxing the income of the producers of that item. It's just frontloaded so that YOU ARE AWARE OF IT. (Yes, prices would drop. Market competition works.)
Plus, everyone knows the rate. Tax hikes would be met with screaming and gnashing of teeth. (Consequently, sales tax increases are rare.) If you don't want to pay it, don't buy so much. If you only spend a little, you get that money back every month anyway.
How does this system leave you with less? Where's the big alteration of lifestyle? If any changes occur, they are for the better. Savings is encouraged. Investment is encouraged. Credit card debt would drop. There would be a few years of adjustment, with some crazy fluctuations, but it would smooth out. In the end, this economy would be so thick that it would be indestructible.
Of course, they can still tax us by devaluing money, since we're not on a gold standard. But that's another battle to win.
Sounds good on paper, but in practice . . .
Whenever we try to tax the producers, somehow the consumer always pays the price.
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