Consumption taxes are not the answer

The price of a used house comparable to the taxed new house would rise to equal the new house with the taxes (a windfall for old homeowners).

While the costs of building new houses falls substantially due to decline in producer prices for building materials with repeal of business income/payroll taxes.

A. Hidden Upstream Taxes. " paragraph 39.

"[39] Dr. Dale Jorgenson, Chairman of Harvard University's Economics Department, believes that the price of goods and services are inflated by about 20 percent or more by upstream taxes consumers ultimately bear. In a recent paper Dr. Jorgenson estimated the built-in taxes contained in the price of goods and services. /22/ In the chart above, he quantified the hidden component of tax, estimating that producer prices would fall on repeal of upstream taxes an average of about 22 percent."

/22/ Dale Jorgenson, Replacing the Federal Income Tax, The Economic Impact of Taxing Consumption: Hearings Before the House Committee on Ways and Means (Vol. II), 104th Cong., 2d Sess., (statement of Dale Jorgenson, Ph.D., Chairman Harvard University, Department of Economics on March 27, 1996, at p. 105) (reprinted in Joint Economic Committee, Roundtable Discussion on Tax Reform and Economic Growth, 104th Cong., 1st Sess. 1996 at. p. 79).

Of course, a worker loses the use of his payroll tax deduction. But most get it all back with interest. Indeed, because of the highly progressive nature of the Social Security benefit system, low-income workers get a very high return on their payroll taxes. They get back benefits in retirement that are far greater than the money they paid in. In this respect, the Social Security system reinforces work incentives, rather than being a simplistic "tax on work" that it is often portrayed as.

Maybe if the money wasn't already spent, and only then for the lowest incomes. Bartlett tied himself into a knot with this one, though he's usually pretty good.

So producers will not have to pay the NRST on the materials used in building a house?

No certified business pays NRST on materials or services purchased for use in the conduct of its business.

The only time NRST is collected is upon purchase at retail level and then only once. It is a pure "retail" tax. It has no VAT components whatsoever.

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