Oh good heavens help us...

[kellinator]

The latest idea from Herr Shrub: Let's get rid of the income tax and replace it with a national sales tax.

This is the worst idea I've heard from the Idiot-in-Chief since... oh, who's counting?

I don't know a lot about economics, but I come from Tennessee, home of one of the highest sales taxes in the nation (including on food, and yes I do mean groceries). And sales taxes are definitely regressive.

Do the math. Say a person needs x amount of food to survive, taxed at 8%. For Bill Gates that tax is nothing; for the average middle-class American it's an 8% jump in the food bill. Talk about your cost of living increase...

I guess this is his way of saying he doesn't think he's put enough of the tax burden on the middle and lower class.

And if this post pisses you off, I don't give a fuck.

EDIT: Excellent article from resipsaloquitor:
http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/11/news/economy/election_tax/index.htm?cnn=yes

Comments

[penguinicity.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the linked article doesn't say if he means a straight up sales tax (which is asinine and horribly regressive) or a sales tax combined with a refund (such as the one advocated by fairtax.org which is the most sensible tax plan I've yet seen. Given past performance, my money's on the former. Or, possibly, someone explained it to him as the latter but that was a bit too complicated so he understood it as the former.

[dwivian]

The ONLY way it'll get through is with the fairtax plan. And, that'd be just fine by me. Sales taxes are NEVER regressive, but merely equal. Alas, equality is something the masses will never accept, instead preferring to "not tax you, not tax me, tax the guy behind the tree."