Yes.

The gov takes about 60% overhead (IIRC) from taxes to run itself, never mind achieving what the legislation requires.

I'm an investor. I like it when my investments make a profit. Given a choice between artificially inflating prices with a huge overhead accruing to an expanded bureaucracy or allowing the price to be dictated by supply and demand and profits accruing to private investors, ...

I'll take the investor for 10 Trillion, Alex.

Consumption tax, sales tax, they are both very insidious. How much did you pay last year in sales tax? I have no idea, but I know exactly how much I paid in income tax.

I agree that any additional revenue raised for a specific purpose, any purpose, is going to get pilfered and raided by every congressman who can get his/her greedy little paws on it.

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On some nights I still believe that a car with the fuel gauge on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. - HST

1983 300SD - 305000
1984 Toyota Landcruiser - 190000
1994 GMC Jimmy - 203000

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Until you get government borrowing under control, it doesn't matter how much tax revenue they get from us. They will spend whatever they deem appropriate. So "starving the beast" is a myth as long as the borrowing has no reasonable limits.

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It's easier to just not tax the things you want a rebate on, maybe things like food. But the biggest problem is that to fund the needs of the govt as is the sales tax would have to be enormous and there's no way people would approve of it and it would hurt the consumer economy that we have today.

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Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

Sure we can. Securitize the lawn mowing with AAA-rated credit default swaps and encourage investors to pour money into it by giving them huge tax cuts. Works like a charm.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

There is sales tax, tax on the interest you earned, capitals gains tax, etc, etc. There are way too many to keep track of. You know how much you paid in income tax but with all the state tax, county tax, etc, etc, how do you know the totals? Way too many to keep track of. When you see the total come up and the tax on the receipt, you will know how much is being taxed and since that is the only form, it is easy to keep track of. Here is another way. Assuming the tax is 10% and I know that last year I wrote out $1100 in checks. I know I bought $1000 of stuff and paid $100 in taxes. The math is pretty simple.

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I would disagree with that. Sure we need to stop the borrowing, period. However it is a 2 pronged approach. You need to stop borrowing an control the revenue. Control the tax alone won't cut it but adding the borrowing control will. But until we get borrowing under control, why do we want to feed the beast AND have borrowing out of control? IOW, why have 2 things out of whack as opposed to 1?

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And maybe instead of having the various taxes we pay nickle and dime us to death and having one huge tax where the govt has to be more cautious when it tries to raise it might just work out better. Now instead of cutting here and pushing that into a different set of books so you don't notice it, they have to increase the tax from say 35% to 38% and they will have people breathing down their necks.

Yesterday, when we were making money, that was not the time. Today when we are losing money, it isn't the time. When is it the time?

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It's easier to let people take responsibility for their own lives. But we live in a culture that doesn't allow that.

The cumulative total of taxes is exactly as you describe it: HUGE. I prefer an honest tax policy in which the taxpayers know exactly how much they are taxed nd on whom to place the blame. Put a tax on every bleeding transaction in America, no deductions. Listen to the swine in DC squeal.

Balanced, no doubt, by the silence from Warren Buffet claiming he pays a lower percentage than his workers.

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Not knowing how much tax we are paying isn't the problem. Anyone who files their taxes knows exactly how much taxes they're paying. My main objection is the number of different taxes and the huge complexity of the tax code and its numerous loopholes. A simple federal sales tax with no tax filing would indeed be nice.

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Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

It's not that simple. The problem with borrowing is the interest the taxpayers pay, frequently accompanied by currency devaluation. So giving the govt the money it wants to spend is not necessarily worse than forcing it to borrow. In fact I'd argue it's better. But then again, it might make the spending get even more out of control. The key is to control spending, but not through tax revenue starvation. It should be done through proper legislation.

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Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

In the short term, yes, you are right. It is better to let the govt have the money than to borrow. OTOH, I look at it like Y2K. Tons of time to fix it but nobody wanted to take the steps necessary at that time. When they are finally forced, they do it.

But if they won't do it, all you are doing is letting it go on longer. Much like Y2K. Nobody wanted to do it in 91 because it would go against their budget and they could push it off later. After all, they might not be there when it needed to be done. However, once say 98 came along, they were forced to fix it. Revenue starvation would be like the clock ticking with Y2K coming around the corner. In 91 they could ignore it. In 98, fix it or else. If not, what would induce them to fix it? Getting spending under control means cuts. You don't buy votes by cutting goodies. They follow the law of inertia. As long as the least resistive path is to borrow and spend, why would they change it? Because it is good for us all? How does that help their career? Politicians on both sides of the aisle are bidding on your vote by offering more than the other guy.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
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03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
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04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Anybody who thinks that their income tax filing is all the taxes they pay should broaden their scope.

Do you know how much you paid in taxes? Sure you know what you paid the IRS. What did you pay in state, county, city, street, dog catcher tax, etc, etc tax? What about your sales tax? You earn money and get taxed. Buy something and also get taxed. With all that complexity, how many know how much they paid in taxes altogether? Then we get the loopholes you talked about. All this is great for obfuscation. $100 here, $20, there, $5, here and pretty soon you have a huge chunk of money but because it is so confusing and small, you fail to notice it. OTOH, if we had one tax and we bumped it up even 1%, you will hear of it and see it. Like I said, total up all your purchases and use the simple formulas and you figure out what your total taxes are. Also when you give me a tax cut, I can see it. There is no adding of this tax and subtracting from that.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
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06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow