Posted by Ray Kidder on 11/6/2008, 6:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Vote for John S. McCain"
71.178.161.224
Don,
If the federal government were to try to pay for its expenses through sales tases, I would think the taxes would have to be something on the order of 30% and up. This is because (I suspect) the average American family probably spends no more than $10,000 per year on consumer goods. If they had to pay a 30% tax, this would raise not more $3000 per family per year. If there are 100 million families, this would mean a tax revenuse of no more than $300 billion per year, which simply isn't enough.
In addition, some people (especially the rich) would be able to invest their money such that for every $1 they earn, they will receive the equivalent of $2 in consumer goods when they finally get around to spending it a decade or 2 later. Their money would grow from tax-free interest, while the lower income people would be forced to pay for goods they could not wait for to invest. One other thing about income taxes that I like is how it causes the government to monitor how people get their incomes. Some people (e.g. drug dealers) can be put in jail for income-tax evasion when it was really a case where they were not so much interested in evading taxes, but rather that they were more interested in evading the discovery of their sources of income.
What is so immoral about having an income tax, as compared to other forms of taxation?
Ray Kidder
Message Thread:
« Back to thread