Turboswede
Very Metal
I disagree. With a flat 10% sales tax the fellow who buys the new Ferrari will pay fair tax when compared to the sales tax paid by the fellow behind the wheel of a used Hyundai.
Oh, I thought you were suggesting that the rich were paying too little in taxes, not too much. Today someone who buys a Ferrari will pay much more in tax than 10%. From a federal perspective you have an import tariff, luxury tax and a gas guzzler tax. In addition, if you buy the Ferrari here in Seattle you would have an 8.7% sales tax. So a 10% flat sales tax would be a windfall to the Ferrari buyer and (in Seattle) an additional 1.3% tax for the Hyundai buyer.
Or would the 10% sales tax go on top of the existing taxes? If thats the case I cant see how adding an additional VAT to the existing taxes would be a simpler system. Would there be any tax incentive to buy a domestic car, or would we charge the same tax on products that are imported and produced in the US/NAFTA?
If the US instituted a 10% consumption tax, I would just advise people to drive to Canada (Or Mexico) for all their shopping needs. We see that here in Washington as we have a State Sales Tax and Oregon does not. If you lived within an hour of the state line, would you by that plasma TV at the best buy in Vancouver, WA or Portland OR?
I would like to go back to my Housing example, here is a simple question, would the sale of a house be taxed?