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Originally Posted by MPGranger
Personal wealth is based of the initial hand in life that you are given and, in time, what you did with that hand to leverage yourself into a better situation.
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Of course but there's no need to make it harder than it has to be.
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Saying that someone who has more should support those who have less is unfair and marxist.
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Why should you give someone who has wasted what they had, something that someone else has worked hard for?
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We need to be careful here not to confuse a value judgement or ideological position about wealth redistribution with acknowledging the simple fact that flat taxes in general, and consumption taxes in particular, act to amplify disparity in income.
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And saying that products would cost 25% more because we now tax goods and services is simple to say the least.
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We have been using simplifying examples as illustrations. At that level, if you add a 25% sales tax then prices go up by 25%.
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...Prices would likely spike initially, but then this wonderful free market of many businesses, back stabbing each other, will begin to cut prices to compete with rivals.
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...My belief is that human greed is the best motivator in business. And they will whittle each other down.
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On topic, road systems are a bit different to other consumer items or services in that they seldom compete with other roads. (Although they may well compete with other forms of transport.) They are government funded (and so they should be to prevent monopolies).
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Originally Posted by redpoint5
I'm in favor of elimination of Federal income tax, and replacing it with Federal sales tax (this coming from an Oregonian that pays no sales tax).
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If a sales tax was introduced it might be necessary to retain some income taxes, at lower levels, as an easy way to compensate for the regressive effect.
Adding a fixed cost to vehicle registration for hybrids and electric vehicles is easy but must be seen as a short term solution. If you are paying fuel tax there is at least some correlation between road use, vehicle weight and the amount that is payed. With a fixed cost additional tariff if you parked your (registered) BEV for the year you would pay the same as someone driving every day.