[DAnconia55]

You are right--EVERYONE needs to pay, whether you earn $10 a year or $10,000,000 a year.

Correct. Take this logic a bit further...

Only defense and courts (these type things) are MORAL public goods.

That means that Bill Gates and You each equally benefit from National Defense...

So why not let everyone ante up $100.00 each year, no matter how much they make?

There's also an interesting idea (search Google, I can't remember the mans name) - Contract insurance.

One moral thing government does - is to insure against fraud, by the court system. The idea is that each sales contract, house sale, etc. would have a small percentage fee added to it. Since Capitalism requires honest dealings, no fraud, etc.. the gov't (well, at least for now) has a legit role in upholding fair trade among the citizens..

Even I cannot argue against this.

[DennisR]

"Only defense and courts (these type things) are MORAL public goods."

Yes...amazing how government has gotten so overextended, isn't it? Scary...

"That means that Bill Gates and You each equally benefit from National Defense..."

True, but I don't begrudge him for being the richest guy in the world.

"So why not let everyone ante up $100.00 each year, no matter how much they make?"

This would be for the courts? If so, I don't want to ante up anything more than an income tax, period. Government should have to make do with exactly what we give them, not what they want. (Which is everything, frankly.)

"One moral thing government does - is to insure against fraud, by the court system. The idea is that each sales contract, house sale, etc. would have a small percentage fee added to it. Since Capitalism requires honest dealings, no fraud, etc.. the gov't (well, at least for now) has a legit role in upholding fair trade among the citizens..."

See above. Since upholding honest dealings is a government responsibility, it should have a higher priority than funding things such as "what is the flow rate of ketchup?" or "how much flatulence do cows emit annually?" Therefore, it should be funded by income tax. And, by the way, I believe an income tax should be the ONLY tax the feds should be allowed to collect. That would put an end to the nickel-and-diming they love to do.