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#-3 · 10-27-2015, 06:15 PM

I can't understand the economic argument for PST. It's crazy.

If you want to tax tourists, tax Hotels there are many many examples of those types of taxes, and the government ends up working with a fraction of the businesses.

If you want to tax the rich tax the rich on income, it's more direct and fair without the need for any new government infrastructure..

What a sales tax does is differ tax revenue by the government, rather than collecting it at the time of income they collect it. It doesn't have a huge impact on the government compared to sales tax but it does have a huge difference on the way individuals pay their taxes. A low income person will end up contributing 100% of their tax burden to the government within weeks of earnings. While a wealthy person will be able to invest and grow their money before contributing 100% of their tax burden, giving them a huge recognizable benefit that low income people just can't access.

It's regressive. We just shouldn't have policies that create explicit benefits for the rich, when their are easier and cheaper ways to directly achieve the goal of taxing people who can afford the tax.

10-27-2015, 06:15 PM	#97
#-3 #1 Goaltender Join Date: Mar 2008 Exp:	I can't understand the economic argument for PST. It's crazy. If you want to tax tourists, tax Hotels there are many many examples of those types of taxes, and the government ends up working with a fraction of the businesses. If you want to tax the rich tax the rich on income, it's more direct and fair without the need for any new government infrastructure.. What a sales tax does is differ tax revenue by the government, rather than collecting it at the time of income they collect it. It doesn't have a huge impact on the government compared to sales tax but it does have a huge difference on the way individuals pay their taxes. A low income person will end up contributing 100% of their tax burden to the government within weeks of earnings. While a wealthy person will be able to invest and grow their money before contributing 100% of their tax burden, giving them a huge recognizable benefit that low income people just can't access. It's regressive. We just shouldn't have policies that create explicit benefits for the rich, when their are easier and cheaper ways to directly achieve the goal of taxing people who can afford the tax.