Alex Tabarrok wrote:
>
> This issue is currently in flux. Prior to 1986 you *could* deduct
> state sales taxes for exactly the reason that Bryan indicates - a
> state's choice of tax policy should not be made on the basis of the
> federal deduction. The changes in 1986 reduced marginal rates at the
> expense of increasing the base which included no longer allowing sales
> taxes to be deducted.
How did that work? Did you have to save every receipt for every taxed
item you bought?
> States that have no income tax, like Florida and Texas, are
> particularly upset about this change because it means that their
> citizens pay more in Federal taxes than identical citizens in states
> with an income tax.
"States" meaning political leaders, right? Do you think the typical FL
or TX citizen knows about this?
--
Prof. Bryan Caplan
Department of Economics George Mason University
http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"He was thinking that Prince Andrei was in error and did not see the
true light, and that he, Pierre, ought to come to his aid, to
enlighten and uplift him. But no sooner had he thought out what he
should say and how to say it than he foresaw that Prince Andrei,
with one word, a single argument, would discredit all his teachings,
and he was afraid to begin, afraid to expose to possible ridicule
what he cherished and held sacred."
Leo Tolstoy, *War and Peace*
