[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by red-beard

John, I could not agree more. The only way to do this, is a complete change of the tax system. The income tax alone skews things, at least from a business perspective. If the income tax were people only, it would be fine. Deductions and other tax "loop holes" skew behavior.

TANSTAAFL. We the people need to pay for the things we get, directly, not indirectly. We need to see the cost, so we can make the right decisions.

I know most people think a 17-24% sales tax would be tough to swallow. But it is what we are paying now in all the other ways. Make it straight forward and simple. The sales tax is this, and it doesn't skew business models to move elsewhere.

The one thing I would do is to exempt a lot of items from sales tax. Food and clothing, reading materials. Basic day to day needs. But the vast majority of items would need sales tax. And if I'm not clear, this is a retail tax. Just like sales tax today, only the end user pays.

The single worst tax in the world is VAT.

You and my accountant wife would get along great.

Personally I think the tax code is incredibly difficult by design, it's easier for the govt to manipulate the people if they don't understand that they're being manipulated. A simple higher sales tax rate would make so much more sense, but the govt would lose control of their destiny. We all know how much govt likes to lose control of the people.