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Originally Posted by Nicobie
I'm all for a sales tax on all goods and services.
NO income tax.
That way if you buy stuff you pay taxes. Don't/can't afford to buy, you pay no taxes.
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I really have to agree with you here. Excises and tariffs kept the government going for more than a century before the 16th Amendment was ratified. If the government can't go back to that system then it is entirely too large and we have given it way too much control over us.
And it isn't that income tax is necessarily a bad thing, but the wording of the 16th Amendment sets no limits and concievably allows for the government go levy a 100% income tax if they wanted to. They already take about a third of my paycheck, while others give up more than half of theirs and still others pay nothing. But according to the IRS wages are not the only sources of income. Remember all those cars Oprah gave to her audience? They all had to pay income tax on those "free" cars. The Constitution allows any gift, trade, prize, etc. to be defined as income and that just goes too far. The 16th Amendment either needs to be reworded or repealed.
Excises such as sales taxes are paid by every consumer in the U.S., whether they're legal taxable-income-earning citizens or not. And tariffs needn't be very large as long as our GDP continues to flourish. The reason politicians make such a big deal out of unemployment rates isn't because they really care whether people earn a living or not, it's because lower unemployment rates equal higher income tax revenues. But excises and tariffs depend on the overall health of the economy, not just one symptom. Abolishing income taxes in favor of the other two options would give the government a vested interest in keeping business strong and business would have incentive to keep jobs within our borders. Viola, the unemployment problem solves itself, while the government generates sufficient revenue and business booms.