Posted on 11/17/2004 5:11:43 PM PST by Rakkasan1
Should the U.S. implement a federal sales tax instead of an income tax?
(Excerpt) Read more at forums.prospero.com ...
No other options? Sales tax is a bit scary. Imagine gasoline at over $3.95 a gallon? Milk at $4.00 gallon, bread t $2.95. Of course if you can't afford it- you don't buy it!
You would be paying no income taxes and hopefully no social security or medicare taxes.
You would have a lot more money to pay sales tax.
Federal Sales tax could piggy back on state sales tax. There would be a lot less intrusion in your personal affairs.
People will try to pitch this tax hit as inconsequential since we'll have "more" money...which will buy less goods. Instant inflation and instant disincentive to buy durable goods. Yeah...way to screw up the economy, people.
It's been tried in California. All we ever wound up with was more taxes that were never lowered or withdrawn.
The only fair tax is a flat tax.
Good every body payes.
www.fairtax.org
Are you sure you want to hold up California as a model?
LOL
I am not against flat tax, except it would preserve the IRS.
We need to rid ourselves of that organization. Sales tax would do that. There could be rebates to poor people or some sort of exemptions like non profits have.
Sales Tax for me.
The costs will ultimately be the same... as consumption falls on heavier taxed items, taxes would most likely rise on necessities...
Either way the government will still get our hard-earned dollars to fund their unconstitutional exploits.
The way to reduce taxes is to shift responsibility for non-federal issues back to the states themselves, and then abolish any non-Constitutionally mandated government expense (Defense would remain Federally funded.)
Another scary thing is the fact that most of our manufacturing jobs are filtering out of the country to China, Mexico and Taiwan. The burden of income taxes right now rests on the shoulders of the rapidly disappearing middle-class. Perhaps this is a way for the government to recoup lost income taxes as jobs shift out of the U.S.?
Just my ramblings of course...
Just my 2 cents....
It seems to go that whenever there's a cut in federal income tax, some states raise theirs figuring that you suddenly have more "expendable" income.
If we replace the income tax entirely with the equivalent of a GST, I feel that some state income taxes will soar. As well, an added federal GST added to already high state and local sales taxes in some areas will cause some items to be priced way out of reach. Some of the suburbs around the Chicago area as well as Chicago itself have local sales taxes heaped onto county and state sales taxes. In some areas, this total "heap" can be about 10% for most items except food (groceries, non-prepared foods) and medicine.
Illinois is presently mulling over raising the sales tax again.
One other problem is that if we trade a federal income tax for a GST, what is to say that later on, the income tax won't come back as well? I won't favor a GST unless some measure is put into place to prevent an income tax from coming back into play.
It also seems to me that a sales tax, more than an income tax, is more in line with the socialist ideology where consumption and materialism is effectively punished by taxing goods.
I'm sorry, but for now and until some other control measures are put into place, a GST gets a "no" from me.
It's the perfect model of the kind of damage ridiculous sales taxes have on an economy. California used to be the world's 5th largest economy. Now it's the 6th largest...and heading toward 7th place if this crap keeps up.
Never take counsel of your fears.
No it's not...a flat tax is still a tax on income. There is nothing standing in the way of the congress un-flattening the tax as long as the 16th amendment is there.
Freedom is the objective here....you cannot be free as long as someone else has a prior claim on your paycheck. Flat, round or square...with an income tax , the government most certainly has a prior claim on your incomes. As things stand now...there is absolutely nothing keeping the congress from imposing a 100% tax on your incomes. I know, I know, you would argue that they would all get voted out the next elections, but maybe not. If the welfare class gets enough....and one man one vote is the way it is.... they would vote to maintain their status, would they not?
No flat taxes for me.....I don't care if sales taxes are 25% or more...I still have the option not to pay just by not buying new stuff. If I decide not to pay any income tax...I am met with legal and physical and psychological violence...pilfered bank accounts, confiscated properties and maybe prison time.
Canada has income tax, provincial tax, and national sales tax. We are grossly overtaxed.
ping
Canada has income tax, provincial tax, and national sales tax. We are grossly overtaxed.
I'm of the opinion that a federal sales tax would be bad because it would stifle consumption, the force that drives the economy. I remember reading a book called the "Fair, Not Flat, Tax." It called for a federal sales tax that incorporated a graduated consumption tax (For those in the Red States: that means the more you purchase, the higher a tax rate you pay; think of it like our current tax code, only it applies to every purchase you make). If one considers that which builds growth in the economy, Investment, one can foresee this policy's implementation effectively choking it off. Businesses would cringe everytime they needed to invest in their company. With every dollar spent on big purchases that make business better, 20 to 30 cents would be levied on top of that just to pay for the government. The consumption tax artificially inflates the cost of every company truck, every robot, and every expensive machine the company wants to buy. Considering end users, the rich and middle class would see a similar artificial inflation not in staples like bread and milk, but consumer durables like cars, home improvement materials, and etceteras. With a national sales tax, these inflated prices change the psychology of the consumers. I don't think that people will realize that they make up that money on April 15th by not having a federal income tax liability (companies may, but the argument relating to inflated prices stifling investment remains unchallenged).
I think a flat tax that retains the standard mortgage interest deduction and the charitable givings deductions do a better job at simplifying the code and creating a more equitable system. More than that, the liability one pays on April 15th is a one time cost; the role it plays into day to day decisions is lessened.
Then again, I voted for Bush, so I must be an idiot.
If you think a flat tax will stay "flat" for long, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
Repeal the income tax and institute a national sales tax.
Bread and milk and other basics don't have to be taxed at the same rate as a Mercedes.
read the "FAQ" section at Fairtax.org and that should
answer many of the things you mention.
I disagree. While a flat tax is preferable to the current system, it is still a tax on productivity as is any income tax. Far better, IMO, is a tax on consumption, a sales tax.
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