The US has varied rates on ST based on state (for example, in New Jersey: its somewhere around 6.6%) but that in itself is nowhere close to an actual country (like, Norway imposes 25% VAT on everything nationwide, its included in the final price) but taxes in general are intended to fund roads, education, infrastructure, etc. (this is something all countries have) and taxes are deducted when you receive your paycheck.
The difference is that Norway imposes 25% VAT (whatever the price is, includes tax) for a reason: to maintain high quality standard of living (it explains why you don’t hear stories of medical or student debt as much) as their public services are funded from high taxes imposed towards citizens. While in the US: sales tax is only added upon checkout, but what do you receive from the government in return after paying taxes?
Too high, my state has one of the shittiest education systems in the country and shitty bike infrastructure/public transit so I’m not even sure what they’re doing with the tax income
I don’t like indirect taxes. Having to pay a 10% sales tax for a 300.000€ house just breaks my poor ass.
Please take ALL the money the government needs in direct taxes to the income. Those are proportional so they are more fair.
Counterpoint, businesses currently hide their incomes in offshore shell companies, so a higher sales tax means it’s harder for them to pay less taxes via these methods.
Business don’t pay sales tax though.
At least in my country they don’t. Sale tax is directed to the final customer.
Sales tax is a bad tax if it applies to necessities, because it unfairly punishes low income earners. In my opinion sales tax on luxury items makes sense. Those who have disposable income to by a super car, or yacht, etc should pay a huge tax…or just roll it all into income tax without loopholes.
Alberta doesn’t have Sales tax.
British Columbia has it but not on grocery food items, nor on clothing for youth.
Taxes should be higher, cost of living should be lower, healthcare should be free, housing should be a human right, and food should be nonprofit.
Sovereign governments collect taxes to destroy money, not to fund things. They can fund things by creating money from thin air; the taxes are to remove money from circulation and control inflation.
That said, a government can decide what it wants to tax, and how much. Sales taxes hurt economic activity, and fall disproportionately on the poor, so a high sales tax is generally bad. You can either have a higher tax specifically for luxuries, or instead charge a wealth / income tax.
Sovereign governments collect taxes to destroy money, not to fund things. They can fund things by creating money from thin air; the taxes are to remove money from circulation and control inflation.
What the hell are you even talking about?
Apparently, hyperinflation.
I get double what my girlfriend makes, so… I don’t care about taxes, tbh. I just wished they’d tax rich people the same as they tax me. If they did that, we could solve so many issues…
Depends on where you live honestly. Besides Sales Tax being regressive and harming low income people disproportionately, where you live affects what the sales tax is being spent on. In general in the US, sales tax goes towards funding infrastructure, primarily roads and other car-centric forms of infrastructure. If I’m remembering correctly, for every dollar the government spends on roads for cars, society as a whole pays an extra $9 or something like that, in contrast to society having a gain when that money going towards bike or public transit infrastructure. So in that way, no, not worth it.
I also think that people get more butt hurt over sales tax because it feels like something you have to pay after you buy your goods/services due to it being levied on the list price so it feels like basically a junk fee. If prices were displayed with tax already included like how VAT works in Europe, I don’t think people would notice or care as much, and the mental side of fiscal burdens is as important if not more important than the fiscal side of it
I would argue that sales taxes are regressive and hurt the people social programs are supposed to help. The one case I have seen where a sales tax would make sense is for a local zoned area for development of that area. Say there is a new public transit system being built and a business is within 5 blocks of it. They would massively benefit from that public transit and having a 1% sales tax that goes towards funding the public transit is in my opinion a case where that would work. Even better if the businesses can only increase prices to cover at most half the cost of the sales tax (so the business pays part of it and the consumer pays part of it).
Really what taxes should be focused on is getting the rich to actually pay their fucking taxes. The amount of good that could come from the rich getting properly taxed would be enormous. Along with reducing sales taxes and increasing taxes elsewhere would probably be better as a whole (outside of the above scenario where it’s highly localized).
TL;DR I think it’s too high cause other forms of tax revenue are in my opinion better than sales tax. See for example how Missouri rejected a proposal to remove income tax and let the state set sales tax to whatever they wanted in an 80% vs 20% vote.
You get what you pay for. If you want improved services, you have to pay more money. My county’s budget is ~$400 per year per person. Think about what you can buy for $400. Can you buy a new driveway? A private investigator? School tuition fees? Can you afford rent and food if you’re out of work for a year? No. At bare bones prices, you get what you get, when the people who are hired are available to get it for you.
Income, sales, property, vehicle/gas and other taxes are just different ways of getting money. Different states may have one tax be pretty high, but another is low or non-existent. At the end of the day, the government will get their money somehow, and if they don’t you’ll generally find you get what you pay for.
Not the question you should be asking. You should be asking: is the total tax burden justified for what you get?
I’m in Oregon and have no sales tax, but my income and property taxes are higher and my total tax burden is a little above the mean. I think I get a decent State to live in, good roads, fairly functional social net, environment protections, mediocre schools. I think the tax burden is mostly justified…
