[FreedomCalls]

As a small business i now collect sales tax for the state and it is so simple to fill out the report and pay it quarterly it only takes about a 1/2 hour. I would be happy to to do the same for the federal government. I hate the income tax and the government would collect much more with the sales tax and it would expose the underground economy.

I have lived in Britain where they have a VAT, and I'm telling you there are lots of businesses that sell goods "off the books" to avoid the VAT. There is a large bureaucracy there involved in making sure people in the retail trade actually remit their taxes.

[tgusa]

I too have lived and worked in the UK, and I would guess that the vast majority of business there don't play games with the VAT. But those poor bastards get taxed at every turn (example: 80p for a liter of petrol, about 75% of which is tax). How do you think they would feel about Inland Revenue being abolished?

[ancient_geezer]

I have lived in Britain where they have a VAT,

The NRST is not a VAT, it does not tax business purchases, the tax is leveled only on sale for final consumption, i.e. retail.

 

Definition [ http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/13330.html ]:

value-added tax
levy imposed on businesses at all levels of production of a good or service, and based on the increase in price, or value, added to the good or service by each level. Because all stages of a value-added tax are ultimately passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices, it has been described as a hidden sales tax. Originally introduced in France (1954), it is now used by most W European countries.

and I'm telling you there are lots of businesses that sell goods "off the books" to avoid the VAT.

If they are not paying the tax, since business purchases are not taxed, selling goods "off the books" only makes the liable to enforcement provisions, and the purchaser getting a good deal. Think about it. More than 80% of retail dollar volume passes through the 20% of businesses (the largest) that are not about to put there business in jeopardy for not collecting a tax from a customer.

Today, the underground cash economy thrives by evading the 40%+ marginal tax rate of the the income/payroll tax system, mainly by indivduals and single proprietors not reporting their income. Under an income/payroll tax system it only takes one to cheat, with a retail sales tax, you have let every customer in on the secret or at least a potential witness to the fact of cheating/embezzelment via a fraudulent sales slip.

[CSM]

Ummmmm, the NRST is not a VAT. I would fight extremely hard against any VAT, however, the NRST sounds like a great solution to the problems we have with our tax system today. Why do you "flat-taxers" fight so hard against the NRST when you can't offer a realistic alternative as a solution with enough support to see passage?