SIMPLE:
Tax ONLY things that are 1) imported, 2) grown, and 3) mined
Applying uniform taxes at the source severely de-leverages politicians who use taxes as punishment. This tax is inherently fair to both individuals and corporations.
DETAILS and RATIONALE
There are only 3 ways that all of the things we use come into existence:
- Grown from the ground
- Dug out of the ground
- Finished or semi-finished goods enter across our border
Virtually ALL things come into existence in one of these three ways. This proposal taxes these three things and these three things only.
Grown: For most farmed products, the tax is based on caloric value regardless of how the product is used. Example: corn tax of $XX/kcal regardless of if the corn is used for consumption, livestock feed, or ethanol. Other things such as trees for lumber should be closer to ‘mined’ taxation and based on industry sales standards such as tonnage.
Mined: $XX/ton for non-energy commodities, and $XX/BTU for minerals used mostly for energy (i.e. coal)
Imported: Tax based on various factors, but ALL imports MUST be taxed.
Rates set by congress every five years with recommendations based off of industry standards and improving standards of efficiency.
On a federal level, no taxes beyond these shall be permitted. No income, no VAT tax, no taxes on investment, etc. Things are taxed (minimally) at their source and that’s it.
This proposal offers impactful benefits:
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These are inherently fair. As an individual, the more you consume, the more taxes you pay. Also corporations can’t escape taxes. Use energy in your production line? It’s already taxed. The more you use, the more you pay. Consumer prices change for sure from the present system, but so does income as all forms of income tax are abolished.
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Applying uniform taxes at the source severely de-leverages politicians who use taxes as punishment. If you want less of something, make it more expensive. This is universally true and has been exploited for a long time. This is why there are tax loopholes and “classes” of income that are taxed differently. This is the most important aspect of this proposal by far.
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This proposal encourages effective recycling. No tax if you don’t mine it or grow it so people are encouraged to re-use, re-purpose, and recycle. Recycling taxes energy, so it will still contribute to the tax base (based on how much energy it takes to recycle various materials)
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This proposal encourages electricity production by wind, solar, and hydro as those don’t involve mining or growing anything. Understand that I am an engineer. I don’t particularly like, nor do i encourage wind or solar power. Understand, also, that with current technologies these are not competitive with coal or nuclear. Also understand that technologies advance. Incentivized by “no taxes”, imagine if homes could be self reliant on energy produced on-property. The grid as we know it wouldn’t be necessary. That’s a very American ideology.
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Accounting burden on people and business would be substantially reduced or eliminated. Labor in industries such as accounting would transition to actual production of things and not simply compliance.
RECAP:
Simple. Fair. Massively less regulation. Massively less government control. Much less of the population directly involved in directly paying taxes. Fundamental transformation in the relationship between government and citizens.