What is a better tax system, consumption tax or income tax?

Question

What is a better tax system, consumption tax or income tax?

Answer 1

"Better" in which way?  Fairer?  Raise the most money?

Generally, governments tax anything and everything both to raise money and to spread the tax burden around.  A graduated income tax is progressive (the rich pay a higher percentage of tax). Consumption taxes, such as sales taxes, tend to be regressive (the poor pay a higher percentage of their income to tax than the rich).  

But one tax does preclude the other.  A mix of taxes, including income taxes and consumption taxes, probably works best.