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JosephTheLibertarian
10-07-2007, 06:13 PM
How would the government be able to tax with a free market monetary system in place? I've been thinking of the 'how', yet I can't figure it out.

freedominnumbers
10-07-2007, 06:44 PM
This is a good question.

I still believe the best way to find everything is a per person flat tax.
The question is how.

It would seem the federal government is supposed to collect it's taxes thorugh the individual states. How should states collect though.

You could do it based on property tax which is common now on the local level and is demonstrably inequitable.

You could have a state level income tax which is also common, a PITA and a vehicle for unfair distribution of the tax burden.

You could have a flat tax. That would pose issues such as how do you identify and properly bill each individual and should a tax be levied for children as well.

You could have a sales tax which requires probably the least administration of the choices, but punishes retail spending.

You could have an excise system which while easiest for the average joe is the easiest to abuse since, like our current healthcare system, the true costs are hidden.

I personally lean towards the sales tax. It's the most difficult to evade. Further any evasion techniques are probably beneficial anyways, such as recycling of durable goods, promotion of trades skills and at home production of consumables.

It's probably the easiest to put in place as well since many areas already require the collection of a sales tax.

ETA: I just saw the monetary part of that. I think that part is simple. I don't envision that we will have a significantly diverse monetary system. While competing currencies may not be outlawed I think that a federal standard dollar would be the form of payment generally accepted. If a retailer accepted competing currencies they'd just convert the tax portion to federal dollars at their bank.