"Dave" wrote in message ...
On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:52:18 -0500, DSK said:

It's very interesting that you and Maxprop are lining up in
favor of the paternalist & socialistic European economic
structures. Are you both still calling yourself "conservative"?

I don't think I lined up in favor of anything. I simply pointed out that if
you want to encourage savings and capital formation (note: I did not say I
or anyone else _does_ want to encourage savings and capital formation), then
the way to do that is to tax consumption. Duh!

VAT does have, in addition to the problem I identified earlier, the problem
that increases in the tax rate may be less visible to the ultimate payer
than is the income tax. At least when you have to file an income tax return
each year you see how much you're handing over to the govmint. Of course
that notion may also be approaching quaint as we are nearly at the point
where 50% of Americans pay no income tax.


I have a serious question to which I should welcome an honest reply from a
consumption tax proponent. Are you game?

My question is this: There is a large group of people who have paid income
taxes on their earnings their entire lives. Some have wisely invested some
of the remaining money and look forward to spending their savings in their
retirement years without having to pay taxes on their money twice. So do you
think it's equitable, when an individual has saved post-tax dollars and now
has a million dollars, for example, to spend in his retirement years to have
the government change the system mid-stream and take away a large percentage
of his net worth in the form of a consumption tax? Given a twenty percent
consumption tax and a man who intents to spend his million before he dies,
his million has shrunk to eight hundred thousand.

Do you consider this double jeopardy?

Paladin
(Have gun - will travel)



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