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Originally posted by: forkushV
And adjusting Arizona income, property, and sales tax rates to make things fairer and flatter would be impossible, right?
Fairer?
If I own a huge house in a great neighborhood, I pay a lot more property tax than someone who has a crappy house in a bad neighborhood. Property tax is based on the value of property....duh. Is that fair? Well if you're going to tax property it is. Of course you could always choose to Rent an apartment in which case you would not pay property tax...your landlord will do that. Or you could choose to move to a state where property taxes are very low if you think you aren't being treated 'fairly'.
Most states exempt food and some other necessities from sales tax. So if I buy a lot more stuff or expensive stuff, I pay a lot more in sales tax....duh. Is that fair? Well if you're going to tax sales it is. Of course you could always choose to save your money and buy less expensive stuff.....Or you could choose to move to a state where they do not have a sales tax if you think you aren't being treated 'fairly'.
Of course there are hundreds of other taxes. Some are based just on the product consumed or purchased like alcohol or cigarette taxes or gas taxes. Others are based on using some service like various FCC Surcharges or Airport fees. Are these all unfair because rich people use a small % of their income to pay them? Is it fair that a family of 8 gets free public education for 6 kids and a childless couple just pays their bills? Is it fair to tax the same income more than once? And if you add up all taxes what is a fair percent to take from taxpayers? Is 50% fair? 80%? 90%? And why does that depend on how much they make?
And so I'd like to propose a new tax scheme that I think is the ultimate in fairness. In the spirit of Henry George and John Locke it's a single tax, but not on land or income. Yes my solution to all of our tax problems is to eliminate all taxes and replace them all with one single tax. A tax on water.
