Taxation and exemption policy

[Koga No Goshi]

I would much prefer a system where all income, personal property, estate and other taxes were discarded in favor of a consumption (sales) tax. The closer we are to pay as you go, the better off we will be. And, should you consider such an approach "regressive," just remind yourself how quickly the all-too-often politically ignorant would be in demanding better and more fiscally responsive government if they were actually paying for it. As it is, the goal is to transfer money from high earners to those who are low earners. It's so screwed up that its not even a proper wealth redistribution effort (which I don't believe in but that would at least be more "honest.").

Translation, again, poor and working middle class people pay tax on almost everything they spend money on, the rich pay tax on only a small portion of what they spend money on. I'm waiting to hear a tax proposal from the rich which doesn't follow this basic formula.

When you're dead, you're dead. You're not being hurt by taxes on stuff flowing out of your estate once you're dead. The fact that the kids of rich people would "like" to get the full mil instead of "only" 750,000 is insufficient reason to cancel the estate tax in my mind, especially given that all proposed tax alternatives involve taxes which affect only those who spend money on day to day living necessities and eliminating taxes on all the ways rich people get richer and stay richer.