Sales Tax. Why?

Question

What reason does the government use to justify taxing us on the money we spend, after we've already been taxed on the money we earn? Does anyone know when sales tax first came in to effect and the public response?

Answer 1

The government has to raise revenue somehow.  Sales taxes are just one of the ways.

Truthfully, a graduated income tax is the fairest of all taxes.  It's the ONLY tax that follows the first rule of taxation, i.e. make sure that the taxpayer can afford to pay the tax.

Answer 2

I don't think they have a sales tax in Iraq.

The sales tax is used to fund Government for improvements to the places you live.   Maybe you like that nice street out in front of your house.   It didn't get there by accident.   Somebody paid for it.   You paid for it.   Your question is not a simple one and the answer is incredibly more difficult to answer but everything in your environment is the result of somebody paying for those services.   Take a good hard look at your community.   The nice roads, the neighborhoods, how they are laid out, the libraries, the parks, the water you drink, the basic television you watch.   All of this was paid for by Sales Taxes.   However, there is currently not a Federal Sales tax.  The Federal Government gets its money from your paycheck.   The State gets it from what you buy in stores and elsewhere.  The City you live in also gets a share of that.  

     In Texas, the Sales Tax rate in most areas is 8.25%.  6.25% goes to the State of Texas and the Cities get typically 1% and the Counties get 1%.   If you don't want to pay Sales Tax, don't buy anything.   But if you wnat to have a better environment to live in, tell all your friends to only shop in the town you live in, otherwise, the goods and services you are buying in a neighboring town, help that city improve its appearance.  Of course, you could always move to the neighboring town if you don't like where you live.

Or you can move to Iraq if you  don't want to pay Sales Taxes.

Answer 3

1930's

You've found the secret of "Double Taxation".

However, President Bush had your Sales Tax exempted from Income Tax.  If you don't itemize, you can take a standard deduction for Sales Tax.  We may lose that next year.

Interest on your credit card and a car loan is taxed in your income before you pay the interest but you cannot deduct it.

The credit company pays tax on the interest again.

Double taxation.

We used to deduct interest from our income for tax purposes.

The Democrats repealed all that.

It was done slight of hand.  Most people forgot about it very quickly.