Comments on: A Rising Tide Floats All Boats http://www.showmedaily.org/2010/02/a-rising-tide-floats-all-boats.html Advancing liberty with responsibility by promoting market solutions for Missouri public policy Thu, 24 May 2012 12:24:42 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: LVTfan (google it!) http://www.showmedaily.org/2010/02/a-rising-tide-floats-all-boats.html/comment-page-1#comment-5442 LVTfan (google it!) Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:41:36 +0000 http://www.showmedaily.org/?p=12911#comment-5442 There may be places in Missouri where the poverty line bears some relationship to the real cost of living for some families. But that makes Missouri fairly unusual in America. And even in Missouri, most people live in places where the cost of living is quite a bit higher than the Federal Poverty Guideline. Sales taxes of any kind are a poor idea. They are generally designed to burden the poor; they were written into many state constitutions 100 years ago, and 100 years later, people are still suffering from their effects. Chicago has sales taxes totaling over 10%. So do some parts of Alabama. The only beneficiaries of such a tax are the middlemen and the tax collectors, particularly the ones who find a way to collect it but not turn it in, and those who own businesses through which they can handle some of their personal consumption. Not a good solution! Where to look? Land value taxation. Land is extremely difficult to hide, and easy to value well. Taxing it leads to better utilization of choice land and reversal of sprawl. Not taxing it leads to the sorts of problems California has been experiencing. There may be places in Missouri where the poverty line bears some relationship to the real cost of living for some families. But that makes Missouri fairly unusual in America. And even in Missouri, most people live in places where the cost of living is quite a bit higher than the Federal Poverty Guideline.

Sales taxes of any kind are a poor idea. They are generally designed to burden the poor; they were written into many state constitutions 100 years ago, and 100 years later, people are still suffering from their effects.

Chicago has sales taxes totaling over 10%. So do some parts of Alabama. The only beneficiaries of such a tax are the middlemen and the tax collectors, particularly the ones who find a way to collect it but not turn it in, and those who own businesses through which they can handle some of their personal consumption.

Not a good solution! Where to look? Land value taxation. Land is extremely difficult to hide, and easy to value well. Taxing it leads to better utilization of choice land and reversal of sprawl. Not taxing it leads to the sorts of problems California has been experiencing.

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