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Article #498

Re: National Sales Tax - An Alternative?

#498
From: Mark Phaedrus
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 1995 00:00
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In article <4ab403$i3a@sundog.tiac.net>,
Quentin Lewis  <bigqueue@tiac.com> wrote:
>But you HAVE NO CHOICE! With a sales tax, you can be a little 
>discriminating about how much tax you give them, and how much you save. It 
>would be a very good incentive to save. 
>
>You currently have very little insentive to save, and when you do, the 
>returns (and the already taxed income) are then taxed. You might as well 
>spend it and enjoy it now.

     But that wouldn't change with a sales tax.
     Yes, you could save as much as you want, and not pay tax while you
were saving it.  But the problem here is that money is inherently a valueless
product; I suppose you could burn dollar bills as fuel or use them as toilet
paper, but there are better products available for both.  So eventually, the
only thing you can do with your saved-up money is to spend it on something
that you want; and when you do that, you'll get taxed.  Under the current
system, if I save $10000 until it becomes $20000 and then spend it, I'll pay
taxes on $20000; under a sales tax, if I save $10000 until it becomes $20000
and then spend it, I'll pay sales taxes on $20000.  The tax is still getting
paid; the only difference is when it's getting paid.  (And if I give my money
away, or die without spending it, when whoever winds up getting it will get
taxed just the same when they spend it.)
--
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From: phaedrus@coho.halcyon.com (Mark Phaedrus)
Subject: Re: National Sales Tax - An Alternative?
Date: 1995/12/10
Message-ID: <4adnbt$22u@news.halcyon.com>
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references: <490s4o$eku@nexus.coast.net> <4a0e7l$4n7@cc.iu.net> <4a4o8m$3hf@aimnet.aimnet.com> <4ab403$i3a@sundog.tiac.net>
organization: Lycanthropes Anonymous
newsgroups: mi.misc,alt.politics.usa.misc,alt.activism,talk.politics.misc,ca.politics,dc.politics,ne.politics,nj.politics,pa.politics,triangle.politics,misc.taxes,ny.politics