Yeah. The rich people are trying to tax everyone but themselves.
Do you believe so called "conservatives" are advocating a consumption/retail tax?
Is that conservative?
This is an interesting analysis'
VAT as Alternative v. Add-On
Revenue-neutral tax reform involving a VAT substituting for income tax raises a number of concerns, but its one advantage might be that it would reduce or even eliminate the net bias against saving. Such a reform would quickly begin to raise the level of private savings and the private saving rate.
The same cannot be said of adding a VAT to the current tax system. Adding a VAT would not have the same beneficial effects as substituting a VAT because, obviously enough, the anti-savings biases of the current system would remain intact.
Even more telling, a massive VAT-based tax hike would slash the after-tax purchasing power of individuals and families. As they adjusted to the new tax, an early casualty would be private saving.
To illustrate, take a family earning $63,000 annually that saves $3,000 while spending $60,000. Suppose a 10 percent VAT were imposed in addition to the current income tax. As a result of the new VAT, what the family could once buy for $60,000 now costs $66,000. Initially and for a significant period, the family is almost certain to stop saving and would still need to cut its purchases by $3,000 to stay under budget.
