Dogger Wrote:To me and I have no background in economics or economic policy, but a sales tax is a great way to keep up with inflation and I don't get the argument that the rich won't have to pay more. They buy a lot more. Schad's an intelligent individual though so he may know something more about this than me.

In general, middle-class and poor families pay a higher proportion of their incomes toward sales taxes than do the wealthy, even in states that do not tax essentials such as food.

It's a slight disparity -- but still an inversion of the principle of the progressive income tax.

And I guess I assumed the proposal on the table was for a flat income tax.

But whether we are talking about a federal sales tax or a flat income tax, we are talking about a proposal to deliver a tax cut to the wealthy and sock it to the middle class on a scale that would make Bush's recent tax cut for the wealthy seem miniscule (and it wasn't).