Quote Originally Posted by peggy View Post
You tax income. Period. If that income comes from dividends, or from digging ditches, you tax it at the same rate. Period. Income is income.
But that experiment has already failed peggy. By taxing the wrong thing (income aka work) the heaviest burden is placed on the people who can least afford it. And you can't tax "wealth" because the only way to accomplish that is through de facto confiscation. I also think the tax RATE of individuals is a red herring. The progressive rate is an attempt to move the burden up the scale, but it doesn't work because the working poor can't even afford the lowest rates and the heaviest burden is placed on those who are producing at a high level. Whether you like high earners or not we need that kind of production to maintain our society's lifestyle.

The notion of taxing spending, rather than earning, is interesting. Sure, the top of the food chain could figure out a way to purchase their BBJ's in Mexico to avoid it, but overall there could be a lot of benefits from this kind of shift. It might be worth a closer look.