| kowenicki said: @Nordlead I disagree slightly... I live in the UK and I think I favour lower income taxes and more VAT. VAT doesnt hit the poor as much as the wealthier imo. If you have little disposable income for luxury items then how does VAT affect you? You pay VAT on most goods and services in the UK at the standard rate, which is 17.5 per cent. But there is a reduced rate for example children's car seats and domestic fuel or power, you pay a reduced rate of 5 per cent. Zero rated goods are food, books, newspapers and magazines, young children's clothing and footwear and special exempt items - for example equipment for disabled people. Reduce income tax and increasing VAT is fair for everyone imo Tax people on their lifestyle not their income. |
except in the US, we tax pretty much everything but food. I would agree with you if they drastically reduced the number of items taxed. Various governments (NY State for example) are trying to tax any drink that has sugar in it. Food is going to be taxed very soon. Sales tax hurts the poor, as they are the people that need to buy clothes, transportation, cooking utensils and other daily items like soap which are all taxed.
Rich people favor sales tax claiming it is "fair", poor people favor income tax claiming the rich need to pay. I can give $20 to a homeless guy to buy clothes for himself, and the government will gladly take 10% (note, you are better off actually giving the clothes to the homeless guy than money 
) How that is fair, I really don't know. Tax is never fair to anyone, as it is other people spending your hard earned money. Heck, if you are going to be robbing people, I'd rather rob the rich than the poor. Why should the poor should pay 20% of their total income while the rich pay less than 1% of their income and put the rest into invesments? Again, I'd rather have a tiny government that doesn't rob you blind to control your lives and provide "free" services. I'd rather the poor are supported via charities. Heck, look at the list of billionairs who give so much money. If you stopped taxing them, I'd bet they would even increase their charity as it wouldn't hurt their bottom line.
Also, show me where Obama is actually talking about reducing income tax? I don't buy that this move by Obama favors anyone at all, and it hurts the poor the most. I know people who don't make enough money to actually have income tax, yet a sales tax directly effects them. I don't know how they manage to scrape by but they do.
