PLEASE forget this joke before I hurt myself laughing!
"Pedro, you stay home...or the federale sales tax will get you!"
Frankly, I don't like VAT (value-added-taxes) like this very much regardless of any impact it might have on immigration.
It gives politicians a chance to target taxes on products they don't like in a very hidden way.
You see, the politicians like to nibble at every step a product makes along the way, from raw materials to taxes on the materials used to make the packaging.
Who's going to object to a .005¢ on a sheet of cardboard...? But there's another .005¢ on the ink, and another .005¢ on the cellophane, and another .005¢ on the tape, and another .005¢ on the styrofoam..... (If you haven't gotten the idea by this point, you never will.)
Suddenly you're paying a 25% tax on a product, and there's no way to fight it. Where do you start? The tax on the paint? The tax on cardboard? There are soon so many (tax)strings attached to the product there's no way to unravel them.
You lose.
Is that a VAT or the so-called "Fair Tax"? :)
[...Suddenly you're paying a 25% tax on a product, and there's no way to fight it. Where do you start? The tax on the paint? The tax on cardboard? There are soon so many (tax)strings attached to the product there's no way to unravel them...]
Can you give an historical example other than existing surcharges and tarrifs?
"...the politicians like to nibble at every step a product makes..."
You got that right. I just learned today that regulatory cost for the oil industry to have a licensable engine oil is $30 million a year. The socialists are licensing engine oil for Pete sakes.