Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
You seem fixated on the paternalistic idea here. Do you think an income tax is more/less paternalistic than a sales tax with exemptions? I hate to point out the obvious here, but government is paternalistic no matter what. They make all kinds of decisions on behalf of their citizens, and in some cases that is whether the citizens like it or not...
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I somewhat agree, but just saying exemptions are not a cure all for all of the inherently regressive aspects of a sales tax, they are still terrible taxes that do the opposite of what most people claim they do. The biggest reason because you are deciding what people need for them.
I don't mind governments making those choices with non essential things or universal access programs out of general revenues. But when you are making those choices regarding person spending on essential goods, I think you are overreaching.