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Quote by: simple simon  seems a federal sales tax would do away with so many problems and provide so much more money then the system we have now .... also seems it may be a little more fair then income taxes
i think we are missing out on a lot of money we could be getting from a federal sales tax when foreigners come to America and spend money here
it would also solve one of the problems of illegal aliens and people who work for pay 'under the table' ..... even babysitters and kids that mow lawns .... in this case we wouldnt have to worry that their income isnt taxed because we will collect the tax when they spend that money
*edit ..... forgot to add a key item this federal sales tax would also help us avoid .... seems fairly often you find out a rich person is being busted for income tax evasion .... that would obviously not be an issue with this plan |
I am sure the government has figured that out and has taken the most profitable route. It is not often the government will do things that are bad for the state, but maybe the people could suffer a litttle bit without them worrying too much. If people that work under the table get away with murder then the state would take measures, bur most of that money gets spent back in that country for living expenses, and then they are kicked out a lot of the time. That makes for a better economy as people that live there will be making the money and spending it back there, so the issue isn't about taxing everyone, it's keeping the money in the country. The government must see a readout of funds being 'shipped' home, and tax that, as that would take care of 'missing' funds where the money leaves the country and becomes spent in another state. That is the only problem, seeing money 'go missing'. If money does do this it will enrich another country and that doesn't go down well with the government, so they should tax everyone before it travels.
Foreign spending in America isn't taxed because it would deter all spending, with foreigners doing all their spending and bringing stuff over from their country instead of spending money there in America. It actually wouldn't do that much to the economy to tax foreign spending there, as this isn't super tax is it, so might not be that much of a deterant. It is only the wealthy that travel, and backpackers too. Maybe a bit of money could be made by that, and that tax remains in the US so it would increase the funds there. Taxing foreigners is a good idea.
Is it better than income tax? Well you got the two extremes coming together here, tax before you spend money, and tax after you spend money. Yes taking away from the spending is good, and you don't get to tax people earning money that are illelegal, so to do the federal route would be better. Your extremes here are illegals and tourists, so to take from what is spent is the better option, definately, as illegals don't get taxed. Easy to pick this one out.