EvMick@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 3/19/99 6:58:29 PM Central Standard Time,
> retroman@turbont.net writes:
>
> >
> > > Forbes, Archer, and the rest of flat tax/national sales tax camp are
> > clearly
> > > wrong. A comprehensive and objective review of the available data can
> > yield
> > > no other conclusion.
> >
> > Show me one. I haven't seen one yet.
> >
> >
> Me either.
>
> It seems to me that if we must have taxes then a national sales tax would be
> best.
The problem with any tax is that they must be constitutional. A national sales tax would only apply to goods produced in one state and shipped to another. Imposing this sort of tax will develop barriers to trade that will protect those producers who are vertically consolidated within a single state, since their products will not be nationally taxable (the national tax can only fall on goods sold that are regulated by the interstate commerce clause of the constitution).
We are seeing a local version of this problem right now in NH. A closet liberal judge appointed to the state supreme court ruled that the present system of funding education in this state is unconstitutional. Why? Well, our state constitution does NOT mandate that everyone receive an education, much less an equal education. What the constitution does say is that taxes imposed by the state government must be apportioned equally upon all towns and residents. This judge ruled that the town imposed property taxes that the towns use to fund education are in fact a statewide tax, not a local tax, and so they must be even. Turns out the towns which have been controlled by democrats for decades are now so economically distressed by discouraging business that the gross value of the property in their towns is too low to raise sufficient funds for education, so the people remaining there have very high tax rates on their depressed properties, and now want the state (i.e. the rest of us) to pay for their stupidity.
--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael Lorrey, President
Lorrey Systems
------------------------------------------------------------
mailto:mike@lorrey.com
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