[whereasandsoforth]

I wonder (often) why a sales tax is great for cities and states, but is wrong for the federal government. I'm not pushing for one. I'm just wondering.

[vannrox]

[phil_will1]

"I wonder (often) why a sales tax is great for cities and states, but is wrong for the federal government. I'm not pushing for one. I'm just wondering."

I would guess it is more tradition than anything else. Since the income tax has come into being in 1913, it has grown to become the primary source of revenue for the federal government. Of course, the ratification of the 16th amendment in 1913 in effect overruled the judgement of the founding fathers (who had opposed the imposition of an income tax) and that of the Supreme Court in the late 1800s (who ruled an income tax unconstitutional).

Many of us today believe that it was the founding fathers and the Supreme Court of the late 1800s who had it right and the congress of 1913 who had it wrong.