Will Wal-Mart or Target or any retail outlet risk not collecting the sales tax? I think not.
Will business owners risk losing their business and going to jail? I think not.
Will some cheating occur? Yes.
Will the federal government's nose be kept out of my personal finances? Yes.
Will I be able to save and invest and change investments without concern of tax issues? YES!
Today, we set up trusts, we time our withdrawal of investments based on tax ramifications rather than common sense.
Bill Gates and his father have locked up all their funds in a 'Foundation' unavailable to all but the very rich. The Gates children and grandchildren will live off of this 'untaxed' compound interest for as long as the US is around just as the Kennedy childrens' Foundation has put them though school and frolicking at Martha's Vineyard all these years. Where do you think they get all their money?
And the Gates and Kennedy families say don't eliminate the 'Estate Taxes' because they have theirs all protected. I see so much self-interest here that it makes me puke.
Again, I will bring up Thoreau who went to the woods and lived his simple life to avoid paying taxes -- a tax protest --. Today, the SWAT team would burn his cabin and headlines would scream "White Separatist shoots self in back".
If I disagree with my government on a war, for instance, and so do millions of others, we cannot 'stop paying income tax' because it is an individually collected tax. But, the same is not true of sales tax. If a few million decide to stop purchasing all but used items for even a day or two, DC would get the message.
In my estimation, the only true protest is a tax protest. That gets their attention.
Today, they can listen with sourfull eyes and press the button to keep waging wars whether the people agree or not.
Wal-Mart and Target don't cheat the current system.
Will business owners risk losing their business and going to jail? I think not.
Business that cheat now, risk all that today but still do it. Just like that Doctor in your example, if he got caught he would get into trouble with the IRS. If somebody pays $100 cash for a Doctors visit, it is easy for him to not report it and not remit the $23.
Will some cheating occur? Yes.
Will the federal government's nose be kept out of my personal finances? Yes.
How? If the government even suspects that you bought goods and did not pay tax, they have every right under your bill to demand that you produce a receipt to prove that you did. You are obligated to produce documentation under the bill.
l I be able to save and invest and change investments without concern of tax issues? YES!
True, but when you go to buy goods they will cost more. Today, we set up trusts, we time our withdrawal of investments based on tax ramifications rather than common sense.
Trust will be unnesccessary, but the effect is the same. All the big money from the Kennedy's or Gates will not be taxed until they decide to spend it. The NRST actually makes it a lot easier for the mega-rich to keep their money with the inheritance tax gone. That may be good or bad depending on your viewpoint.