[Ed Bighi]

Burden of collecting taxes on private businesses? We do that already at state level. The only difference would be the percentage and where it is sent. Big deal. Easy to do on our end. Not to mention sending my accountant packing already. Considering the thousands I spend on him every year, I would be a happy man not having to depend on him. And as far as the industry of tax preparation, what can I say. Like being a cancer or aids researcher, these are career choices based on problems. When someone makes a career choice based on a problem, one has to assume that someday that problem might be solved. After all, is it right for a problem that ails the entire population to artificially stick around in order to keep a small fraction employed?

Cheating on sales tax? To what benefit? I have been charging sales tax or rental tax to my customers since I was 19 and never have I seen the benefit of it on my end. To increase sales? For that purpose, it would only be a matter of time before you were busted. Quite easy when one is depending on a quantity of open mouthes in order to get a benefit from this cheating. The only time that I have seen sales tax being fudged is in Miami for the tourists from countries with big duties on imports. But in those cases, the cheating was not at national or state level. The customer paid the same regardless. The only difference is the second faux receipt of a far lesser value intened for the customer to present at customs in his or her country. But you want to see cheating in this system right now? Go to, again, Miami and get your car worked on. Then say you want to pay cash. Then see the difference in the price. While in other cities it might be a few dollars, in Miami you might get get to pay a third less. Sometimes half as much. Of course, this isn't done to charge the customer less sales tax. It is done to save the mechanic some income tax. And in that city nobody is a boy scout.

On the other hand, to see national sales taxes in action, just take a trip to the english islands throughout the caribean. Not those that charge income tax and have widespread emmigration. Go to those that charge only a national sales tax. While those places aren't perfect, they are good enough for even the poor to decide to stay. After all, having lived in South Florida for close to twenty years, among all the Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, Brazilians and others, I had a tough time finding someone from Cayman, Costa Rica, St Kitts, Nevis, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Netherland Antilles, etc... And the few I found were only in town to finish school or to shop. All those places have no income tax. Funny how I seldom saw a single immigrant from those islands when I saw so many from places that tax income. Makes you think.

Do I want a national sales tax or flat tax? Yes, please. Or at least an exact replica of the swiss tax system where the cantons get most of the money and compete with each other for the lowest possible tax rate. Yesterday is not soon enough.