[fightinJAG]

If there is one commodity that could bear the entire sales tax by itself it might be gasoline/diesel. There are a limited number of fuel stations, there is a complex production process, and there is a need for fuel. All these would make it easy to implement and collect.

The problem with this is that it lacks the accountability that a NST has. We all know how hidden fuel taxes are now. Even when gas prices go out of control, people don't think, hey, maybe the government should back off some of the taxes adding to the price burden of a gallon of gas.

The tax not only has to raise revenue, it has to be open and notorious -- and having it on every receipt does that.

[xzins]

I agree with you. I was just ruminating on the idea of narrowing the tax so that it couldn’t be avoided or black-marketed.

It is extremely hard to refine gasoline, to transport it, and to safely deliver it to automobiles.

$21 dollars a gallon, though, would prove that energy is more elastic than people might think....horses and buggies, for example.

But, energy would be one of a few items one could focus a sales tax on, so that the black market would have difficulty avoiding it. Fossil fuel, at least, by its very nature requires a controlled distribution.