Hello George, I have often wondered if it was possible to do away with inflation, all taxes, etc. and simply replace them with a flexible GST (goods and services tax).
The simplified version would look like this: Every good and service is subject to a surcharge of say 5%, without exemption. Different to widely used VAT systems, there would be no way to claim the GST back, instead, there would be double and tripple taxation in sor far, that the raw material is taxed, the wages are taxed, the packaging is taxed, the cost of transport to the wholesale, the sale to the retailer, etc. It would likely build up to about 30 or 40% anyway, but it would happen to everyone, independent of income, property, background etc. Moreover, it would happen to all imported goods as well. From the time they arrive at US shores to the time you put it into your All-American shelf, fridge, stomach, etc. it would have accumulated some 15-20% tax on the way. Imagine the savings on paper work, enforcement, etc. As Jim says, the real tax in the US is about 50% anyway, in most EU countries it's likely even higher. Now, the next stage, after introducing the system would be to set the annual rate in accordance with the marco economic climate. If the economy is overheating, increase the tax to 7 or 8%, shortly inflation will increase as business passes the higher tax on to the consumer, consumers buy less and start saving for the next low-tax year. Busines will drop the prices to increase sales, growth is reduced and despite the higher tax, the threat of deflation appears. Once that happens, the goverment reduces the tax to 4% to kickstart things and everybody runs to buy the stuff the've been saving for. Workable? Too simple? Not enough control over consumers? I don't know, you tell me :o) Cheers, Robert PS - we are being dDOSsed on and off, on server05 (which happens to include cyfrocash.net accounting and cyberica.net hosting) in retaliation for us suspending blue-market.com last night; please be patient while we are working on ways to shoot back. servers01-04, 06 (cyberfrontier.biz, etc.) and up are not effected and function normal. budget & privacy website hosting http://www.cyberica.net e-commerce & e-business services http://www.cyfrocash.com budget domain registrations http://www.u2planet.com --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
