Quote:We all know that far-left, Shad-like, near socialist economies DO NOT WORK. Need examples? Try Cuba for one.

Does the fact that Argentina has failed negate all the virtues of capitalism?

Quote:I remain firm on eliminating the income tax and replacing it with a national sales tax. That limits government spending, it forces the gov't to spend money more wisely, and middle-class families who are trying to save $$ aren't punished for doing so.

You should be clear about what you want. It appears you want an even more massive tax cut for the wealthy than President Bush has yet proposed -- along with a corresponding reduction in services to pay for it.

I say this because your proposal would punish the middle class, particularly if you tried to raise the same amount of money now raised through the income tax with a sales tax.

Sales taxes are hardest on the poor. Despite exemptions for necessities such as food, the poor spend a greater proportion of their income on sales taxes than do the middle class. Further, the mdidle class spend a greater proportion of their income toward sales taxes than the wealthy.

As we know, the income tax has the opposite effect -- an effect, I should add, that better fits my idea of fairness

So, if your proposal for a national sales tax is revenue neutral, the burden on the middle class is likely to go way, way up in order to pay for the savings wealthy families would see. Sales taxes, by their nature, are assessed at a flat rate.

On the other hand, if your proposal is structured in a way so that no one's tax burden goes up (and this strikes me as unrealistic considering the fact that, if we leave FICA aside, many poor families pay no income tax at all right now), then you are talking about a massive, massive giveaway to the rich and a massive, massive cut in services.

I'd like to hear more about which services you would cut in order to balance the budget that would be produced through replacement of the income tax with the sales tax. What services do you plan to cut?

And how do you propose explaining to poor families that they'll need to pay more on everything from school supplies to light bulbs so that our nation's upper crust can be free of this odious, unfair income tax?