Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
My point is -- it is hard. Not impossible, but there's a reason, other than corruption, why tax laws are long and it take lawyers and courts to work out the meaning of the laws.
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The reason tax laws are long and lawyers and courts are involved is because no one wants to pay them and people with the most at stake hire lawyers and judges to help with that.
Besides raising revenue, taxes affect behavior. With so many wringing their hands over over consumption and pollution, the obvious place to collect taxes is at the cash register.
As for what to do with the revenue, ideally, you would want to divide it among worthy projects. In the real world, it is probably easiest to divide it among those adversely impacted my the manufacture and sale of the particular product. That is the beauty of the value-added-tax. Of course, a lot of less tangible value is added where the item is marketed and sold, and things get confusing when things are sold at a loss, but that is the way to collect and distribute taxes.