To: xzins
Sales taxes are not destructive UNLESS they are used in addition to income taxes, property taxes, luxury taxes, fees, assessments, etc. This argument is not intended to be intellectually honest, is it? Are you really saying that the yacht industry would not have been affected by the sales tax if there were no income taxes?
To: SolidSupplySide
Of course it's intellectually honest.
The bottom line is what consumer X ends up putting out of his pocket. The luxury tax raised the final cost from Y to Y+L. That "L" amount was more than customers were willing to pay.
The other taxes, whether income tax or not, are built into the price of the boat. The rule is that businesses pay ZERO taxes. Tax is an expense that they build into the price of their product.
If there were no "income tax" cost to build into the price of the product, then the price would be P. If you add ONLY a sales tax, then the price is P+ST.
That final price, then, is the issue. Is it a price that a consumer will pay? If it is, then consumers will buy. If it isn't, then they won't.
However, there won't be tax costs hidden in the price of the yacht. It will be pure production + pure sales tax. Everyone will know what is product and what is tax. As it stands now, no one knows that, do they?
Rid the nation of all taxes except sales taxes and you will have CLARITY. And fairness.
9 posted on
01/10/2003 5:41:47 AM PST by
xzins
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