From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Sun Mar 21 1999 - 23:17:35 MST
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
------------------------------------------------------------
"A society which trades freedom for some measure of security
shall wind up with neither." -----Benjamin Franklin
"The tree of Liberty should be watered from time to time
with the blood of tyrants and patriots."
-----Thomas Jefferson
"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security
of a Free State, the Right of the People to keep and bear
arms shall not be infringed." -----US Constitution,
2nd Amendment
"You can have my gun when you pry it out of my cold, dead
hands..." -----Anonymous
"Once we got their guns away from them, taking their
money was REAL easy." -----Unknown North Korean
Commissar
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