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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lawdog who wrote (24404)	7/13/2000 2:43:08 PM
From: Father Terrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

You must not have gone to cats.org where many of the important issues you raise are discussed. Plus there are a host of plusses that you overlook -- including the ability to actually have a taxable access to the "underground" economy, such as the multi-billion dollar drug trade. As far as the points you have raised: 1. How will you prevent the use of bartering to avoid the tax? You wouldn't. Bartering cannot be really tapped into now. 2. How will you offset the regressive nature of a consumption tax? A system based on income would retain some trappings of the current system thus making it as imperfect. Answered superbly at cats.org 3. How will you prevent individuals living near a border from purchasing their goods in Canada or Mexico? How will you prevent individuals from buying goods on-line from countries with no consumption tax? You wouldn't. People who live near borders will have a bit of luck in that regards. And they can benefit from currency disparities as well. As for the Internet, that should always remain a tax-free zone. 4. You will probably want to collect a sales tax on goods purchased outside the U.S. Wouldn't this turn Customs into an organization just as bad as the IRS? No. No sales tax on goods purchased outside the U.S.