Posted on 10/02/2013 12:48:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Tariffs, duties and excise taxes ARE consumption taxes as well.
Pardon me for being obtuse, but how would a retail sales tax necessitate the elimination of cash? Most state and local governments seem to collect them just fine using cash now, and excise taxes on tires and a few other things are also collected at the point of sale.
If there was a national sales tax large enough to be revenue neutral in replacing the income tax, you would see a sizable black/gray market pop up with people dealing more in cash to avoid the tax. Within a year you could pick any number of big government statists looking to do away with cash, and make all trasactions electronic, crying about cash being the tool of drug dealers, terrorists and tax evaders. And then there would be the audits. Anyone who thinks the IRS would go away under a national sales tax is too naive to function without a legal guardian. If you think audits are intrusive now, wait until you have to prove you paid tax on every item in your home. Sure, they will say the consumer will never be audited. Just like they said the income tax would only be 1% and would only apply to millionaires. See how that promise worked out?
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