Abolish Sales Taxes In The U.S.

Posted: 10/1/2014

The Great Depression Made It Possible

Almost like desperate times require desperate measures.

I have recently read that sales taxes were only introduced during the Great Depression (This Wikipedia article kind of confirms this), because some states had difficulties financing their budgets. A tax once created lives forever so it seems. Show me the politician who voluntarily gives up a good source of revenue once created?

It Is Double Taxation

If a government already imposes an income tax, then it should be prohibited to tax sales as well. Politicians should be allowed to choose only between one of these two major sources of revenue.  E.g. Arizona has both taxes, side by side. A sales tax is a form of double taxation, because the income, used to make this payment,  is after tax. A sales tax usually is also very regressive.

Both taxes, i.e. sales tax and income tax, are defined on a usually broad base. Thus, politicians can easily jump revenues at their pleasure,  if they tinker with either tax or both. If Politicians do it well, most citizens will not even notice how much has been taken from them.

Like Estate Taxes

Estate taxes are also a form of double taxation when the income received to build the estate was previously subject to an income tax. It does not matter how generous the exemption might be.

The other reason for estate taxes is to tax any gains from income that was previously not reported for income tax purposes. Politicians do not trust their citizens.

Same same can be said of a sales tax. It also taxes any purchase paid from unreported income.

Lower tax rates makes more honest citizens!