Lonny B wrote:
Once again I have to say: READ IT.

And I think we might be talking about two separate things here. You mention
the VAT. I am not talking about that at all. I am talking about a national
sales tax.

AFAIK the national sales tax bills all got buried and are either dead &
replaced by VAT bills (3 proposals currently in committee) or are
morphing into a VAT.


... Two different animals. The VAT is the 'pretty baby' of the
liberal left, like Hillary Clinton.

And "liberal lefties" like Phil Gramm and Bill Archer.

Why does any political discussion *have* to turn into a hate fest? Have
you been programmed to foam at the mouth for the name "Clinton"?


No, seriously, perhaps some provisions could be made to make the transition
smooth, and more fair.


There's the problem right there. Congress isn't interested in "fair"
even if it could be agreed on what that is. Congress is interested in
1- slanting tax codes towards their buddies & allies (ie campaign
contributors)
2- preserving their perks & prorogatives... basically maintaining or
increasing their own power.
Neither of these two trends is new, and I doubt they're going away. One
of the founding principles of U.S. gov't is to clearly outline what the
gov't *cannot* do and we need to stick with that... increase it IMHO.

The best tax reform I ever heard of is making a law that all Congressmen
have to file their own taxes, be audited as though they were average
citizens, and suffer double penalties if any are due. The seond best
proposal is that the US tax code be hand written in large block print on
a 3x5 index card.

Lots and lots of ways the system *could* be better... most are
pie-in-the-sky. The ways currently being hammered out by Congress are
most likely to make it a whole lot worse.

DSK