>So if you make $100K and spend $120K to do so, you still pay $10K in taxes.<
Having ran my own business, I can say that this happens more often than NOT - especially for job start-ups!
I understand, the “no exceptions” as a theory, but in reality, this would be a JOBS and INITIATIVE KILLER!!!
You have it exactly right. The notion of a tax on gross sales is the product of even a simpler brain-format than liberalism.
A tax on GROSS INCOME would utterly DESTROY 90% of people who took on any sort of risk. You could have a business that lost a lot or a little, but the owner who made $100K GROSS and suffered even a mild loss, say $20K, would owe $10K in taxes. As would the person who had a stompin’ business who made $50K in NET PROFIT on a $100K gross (like Microsoft does) would pay exactly the same tax.
For that matter, you could buy 2000 shares of a $50 stock ($50K) and puke it out when it fell 10 points. Your gross sales would be $80,000 so to add insult to injury, you would owe $8K in taxes on top of your $20,000 loss.
This is a dumb idea by folks who have zero concept of business operation and what it takes to get any sort of business started.