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

[terminalwriter.livejournal.com]

Becuase, unless they do, people will take their business elsewhere. If your only tax is on purchases, won't you look harder for the best price when you're dealing with a 25 - 30% tax rate? You've gotta get the most bang for your buck and companies unwilling to do that will learn very quickly that they are not going to get the sales.

[gmslegion.livejournal.com]

In addition, it's not like the lowering of the base cost will be any big secret, kept from the great unwashed masses. It's one of the principal selling points of the fairtax. If it ever comes to pass, every customer who wants one of those cups of coffee is going to be asking the staff "So, isn't it time you lowered the price to coincide with the new sales tax?"