Oct 19th, 2005, 05:55 PM
Sorry, I'd like to give the thread some fair time, rather than rushed answers, but anyway.....
I see a pervasive trend in your comments regarding economics. Is it only poor people who smoke cigarettes, buy lotto, tickets, drink a 6-pack every night, and get addictions?
You seem to hold little pity for po' folk, because well, they're dumber than you are....clearly. I mean, anybody who makes a lot of money, has a successful job, owns instead of rents, why this person merely made all of the right decisions in life, right? Never got addicted to drugs, never got themselves into debt, never was stupid enough to choose to go to a bad public school when he/she was 4......I digress.
If sales tax goes up on consumer goods, the people who will be most hurt by that are those people who make lots and lots of purchases all of the time. These are the Wal-Mart shoppers, these are the mcDonalds eaters, and these are the middle class. There's more of them, and they buy the shit. They buy the pools for their backyards, they buy the expensive lawnmowers that they don't need, they shop at outlet malls on the day after Thanksgiving (p.s. don't every put a sales tax higher than 3.5% between a mother and her on-sale khakis for Christmas).
I have seen economic data that says it both ways, so I'm left to reason out my own opinion on it. I, contrary to what you may believe, think most wealthy people got there by being smart with their money, i.e. NOT SPENDING IT. I think a massive sales tax would hurt the middle class, and the lower classes, because it would hit those why rely on what's in their wallet and what amount their weekly check will be than it does the salaried, frugal, fiscally sound, non-smoking, non-sixer drinking smart rich person.
|