It "makes more sense" but it in no way will "simplify the tax code" or "eliminate the IRS."


First of all, for those saying that we will earn taxes from tourists, that may sound reasonable but try and find one country in the world that doesn't refund national sales tax when you leave the country. You won't find one, because it's absolute suicide from a tourism point of view.

Second, the IRS would simply tranfer from handling income and payroll tax crap to handling quarterly sales tax reports from every commercial firm in the country. You aren't saving money, it's being redistributed. And if you choose to have essential items exempted from this sales tax as Tobra mention, bam your complex tax code is back and now every store in the country needs new POS systems to handle a combination of total (state) and selective (federal) sales tax systems.

Third, in order to keep any tax revenue at all you would have to implement federal sales tax codes for internet sales. The complexity of the laws would be immense, not to mention the idea of actually tracking down internet retailers that weren't charging/submitting their sales taxes... it would get fugly.

Fourth, you would be encouraging Americans to spend money outside of the country. Why vacation in Michigan when you could vacation in Canada and get your GMT refunded when you leave?

Fifth, a flat tax system is going to drive a goodly percentage of the population below the poverty line (and decimate those who are already there). So you're either going to have to exempt them entirely, refund them annually (horrible idea) or create an entirely new welfare system.

Sixth, you're drastically adjusting the relative gains from consumption and investment, which will shift money away from goods market and into investment markets.


I don't have a solution for the tax code. But that isn't going to stop me from saying that a flat sales tax system is vastly worse than our current system.

 

I've got a solution to our tax woes.

Spend less.

The government makes plenty of money, it just spends too much.

 

Agreed.


As I said before, America runs best when congress and the president are from opposite parties. The shitty bills (especially spending) just don't make it out. I'm 100% confident that this is the reason why the economy did so well in the 90s.

 

The only reason there's something wrong with it is because the goverment can't keep their hands out of its trust fund.

 

In a political thread, buckwheat.

 

The economy did so well in the 90's because of the collapse of communism, or the Soviet Union specifically, and because of the rise of the computing age.

That and Clinton didn't do anything to fuck up the process while it went forward, he let it develop and inflate, and inflate, and inflate, and inflate.

Good at the time, bad in the end -- but still a good (and the only) move a president could be expected to do during that time.

 

Goddamn Imperialism

 

Imperialism? Hi, I'm from planet Earth; What planet are you from?

 

i don't care what kind of thread it is. the irony of an arrogant asshole calling someone else an arrogant asshole is humorous.

 

That is not the only reason, when you have a dozen paying in to support one, it is a little better setup than when you have 2-3 paying for each beneficiary

Preventing a flat tax from adversly affecting the lower end is a simple matter of exempting the first $15K or so from taxes, sort of like what our current President did with property taxes in Texas, first $50K of value exempt from assessment. Rich bastards with million dollar homes relatively unaffected, but peasant in a shack pays nothing. It would not eliminate the tax code, but it would probably raise tax revenue because you could prevent any tax dodges.

With respect to a national sales tax, even if you refund foreign people's money when they leave the country, it would still be a method to get cash out of the leeching illegals. Folks on the border would maybe run across to buy stuff to avoid this tax, but this is already happening, I guess you have never been to a border town near Mexico. It is one thing to walk across and buy a bottle of tequila, and quite another to purchase a car. Perhaps I should have said it would simplify the tax code for the average person. I never said it would eliminate the IRS, perhaps I also need to determine a way to make the charachters I type more plain and easy to read. You may have noticed that lots of businesses have computers. Tracking sales, internet or otherwise would not be thenightmare you perceive it to be. States already do it, is the Federal government that much more inept than Delaware?