Kill paycheck taxes have a retail tax

~~David~~ · Jan 13, 2003, 04:50 PM

I believe we (americians) should have a national sales tax. Reasons are if we have a nation 23% sales tax on everything and kills federal tax it would basicly dismantal the irs and it would be a tax break for everyone. At my current job I clam single 0 and they are taking about 32% of my check for taxes. Now if i had no tax taken out my check and just taxed on the stuff i bought that would be much better for me. Also the damn democrates couldnt complain about it saying it helps the "evil rich" as they put it. Reason being if they spent more they pay more tax spend less pay less. sounds good to me. opions?

Vampyromaniac · Jan 13, 2003, 06:42 PM

Interesting, but would it be 23% on top of your state sales tax? Hey maybe a combination of federal sales tax and income tax would be good, like what states have.

digitalwanderer · Jan 13, 2003, 07:28 PM

Call me insane, but I've always just thought the idea of a uniform flat-tax across all brackets made sense as being the best/fairest way...not to mention it would simplify the IRS out of existance.

JavaFox · Jan 13, 2003, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by digitalwanderer
Call me insane, but I've always just thought the idea of a uniform flat-tax across all brackets made sense as being the best/fairest way...

Say what? DW, you astound me! You agree with a conservative idea? But what of the vaunted graduated/progressive tax system? Don't you want the rich to pay a proportionately high percentage of their income in taxes to help the poor?

I'd call you inconsistent, but perhaps unpredictable is more flattering.

While a national sales tax sounds like a good idea, I believe it has a few problems. First, it levies taxes on people not legally required or obligated to pay taxes. For example, my 14-year old brother. Second, a national sales tax discourages spending in a very different way than the current income tax. Finally, 23% is way too high. I mean, you're looking at increasing prices --across the board-- by 23%!

I believe the current tax system is extremely convoluted and needlessly complex. Any intelligent debate regarding taxes, therefore, is a good thing. But I remain unconvinced that a national sales tax (which is, interestingly, something supported by both Libertarians and Communists) is the best way.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Jan 13, 2003, 10:12 PM

Um are u nuts? That wouldn't work people would horde their money. The government would not make enough money to stay viable. True the rich seem to get all the breaks. But if they currently take out 36% then they would what a 36% tax on all you buy and if you saved your money in a bank account they would have to tax it too. not just your interest so then the banks would then fail and the economy who go to hell ... it would be total chaos... it will never happen

ToshiroOC · Jan 13, 2003, 11:30 PM

Excuse me David, but we are not "crates"... we are "crats", thank you

Anyway, I think that it would be extremely hard to replace the current system given that the current system works well enough, and any potential future system would need a LOT of work before showtime... I think that a uniform sales tax would be excessive, though I have a thought about that - graduated sales tax? The more you spend, the more you are taxed, but you are taxed very minimally up until you get into the realm of upper-middle class spending ranges, where it starts to sharply increase... and though this will probably curtail some buying in the section where the increases start, the rich upper class will probably be minimally deterred from buying... of course, I haven't thought this system out much at all - I just thought of it... comments, critiques?

Malus · Jan 14, 2003, 01:00 AM

I don't think it will work. Prices are different for different products in every state. Places like Washington have a higher minimum wage, so all of their prices are already inflated as it is. Theme parks have grossly bloated prices for things like refreshments. Places like Hawaii and Alaska already suffer with increased shipping costs due to their isolation for the rest of the US. With a tax like this, there will be a severe imbalance of prices on products from state to state. People in some states will pay more for a product than people in other states, and therefore be unfairly taxed more. This defeats the purpose of changing the tax system in the first place.

Also, couldn't people get around it by buying from other countries? I'm sure people throughout the world would like to undercut our businesses with their tax-free products. Let's just make our businesses as unsuccessful as possible.

Flat tax = nice.

Malus · Jan 14, 2003, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ToshiroOC
Excuse me David, but we are not "crates"... we are "crats", thank you Anyway, I think that it would be extremely hard to replace the current system given that the current system works well enough, and any potential future system would need a LOT of work before showtime... I think that a uniform sales tax would be excessive, though I have a thought about that - graduated sales tax? The more you spend, the more you are taxed, but you are taxed very minimally up until you get into the realm of upper-middle class spending ranges, where it starts to sharply increase... and though this will probably curtail some buying in the section where the increases start, the rich upper class will probably be minimally deterred from buying... of course, I haven't thought this system out much at all - I just thought of it... comments, critiques?

Again, people will stop buying products to avoid the tax. Hell, rich people would probably just move to Canada and continue to make money off of America, just as many businesses move their operations overseas to save money.

ToshiroOC · Jan 14, 2003, 01:11 AM

I realize that - thats why I know it won't work and it hasn't been tried. However, its a thought, isn't it? Where you are utterly free from taxes except when you buy ridiculously high-priced products...

Malus · Jan 14, 2003, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ToshiroOC
I realize that - thats why I know it won't work and it hasn't been tried. However, its a thought, isn't it? Where you are utterly free from taxes except when you buy ridiculously high-priced products...

Well, when the world becomes one nation and the Anti-Christ walks the Earth, then maybe it will work. . .