|
|
Re: Political Sci/Social Sci Term Paper Ideas Available
David Lloyd-Jones (dlj@inforamp.net)
18 Sep 1996 18:10:49 GMT
warrl@blarg.net (Warrl kyree Tale'sedrin) wrote:
>Right now, in this state, sales tax alone (ignoring all other taxes)
>is about 8.5 per cent, depending on precisely what taxing
>jurisdictions one lives in. That is charged on all retail
>transactions except grocery-store-type food purchases.
>This means that whatever someone might be pleased to sell at $10.00,
>someone else must be pleased to buy at $10.85, or no transaction takes
>place. Given the massive amounts of retail trade that take place in
>spite of this obstacle, I cannot help but think that a great deal of
>trade is prevented by it.
Warrl's illustration of the effect of sales taxes is a nice
explication of how it works. Still, I think there's one thing to be
added: when people consider the value of money in their pocket against
the price of things out there, the alternative uses of the money are
what comes to mind. The money itself is useless; the real question is
do I want the boat or the hi-fi?
If both the boat and the hi-fi are subject to the same tax, nothing
has changed but the numbers.
Of course if you leave something, in Warrl's state groceries, untaxed,
then you have subsidised it by pricing it in the old undepreciated
numbers. Maybe that's why so many of us are suddenly overweight.
-dlj.
|