<VV> [VV-talk] Taxes

[Alan and Clare Wesson]

A friend of mine who works for the British Treasury told me once that the 
reason the government is so fond of sales taxes in general and gas tax in 
particular is because it is much harder to evade and easier to collect than 
income tax.

The collection rate for income tax is well under 50% and the number of 
allowances is breathtaking. On the other hand, the collection rate for gas 
tax is 100%, the people who collect it pay all the costs, and there are no 
allowances.

So although sales tax in general and gas tax in particular are very unfair 
and regressive taxes (they act disproportionately on those least able to 
afford it), the government loves them. I suspect Senator Obama is just about 
to work out from the example set by his nice friend Mr Brown how wonderful 
gas taxes are, too.

Although actually the person who set the precedent of not spending gas taxes 
on the roads was... Winston Churchill! So you see, he wasn't perfect!

And next time anyone tells you that the purpose of taxing gas is to Save The 
World, you can set them straight.

Cheers

Alan



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frank DuVal" <corvairduval at cox.net>
To: <airvair at earthlink.net>; "Virtual Vairs" <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2009 6:50 PM
Subject: Re: <VV> [VV-talk] Taxes


> Mark, just me in the middle.
>
> I do not like consumption taxes (sales tax, VAT in England), but I
> wondered why you say they are soak the working people  taxes? If I only
> make 20K a year, then I shouldn't spend more than 20K in a year, so my
> tax will be based on the 20K I spent. If I make 200K a year, seems to me
> I will spend WAAYY more than 20K a year, so my tax paid will be VERY
> larger! If I am unbeleiveable in frugality, and I saved 5k of my 20k,
> then my tax base will be smaller. It encouages saving, something the
> current tax laws do not.
>
> What's bourgeoisie about that?
>
> Frank DuVal
> Agreeing that all taxes are paid by consumers, just as higher prices.
>
> airvair at earthlink.net wrote:
>
>>Consumption taxes? There you go again, trying to hide the tax load by
>>spreading it around under different names. Thought the original discussion
>>was about whether all taxes were to be directly paid by the individual.
>>That would require ONE tax bill, due as a lump sum. So let's get back to
>>the original discussion of ONE tax bill.
>>
>>Besides that, a "consumption" tax nothing but a "soak the working people"
>>scheme. It's promoted by the filthy rich because it's a way for them to
>>shift their tax burden off onto the working class. A bourgeoisie idea if
>>there ever was one. Trouble is, some middle class people are so deluded as
>>to actually believe that hogwash.
>>
>>-Mark
>>
>>
>>
>>
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