re: #386 jamesfirecat

The one nit I have to pick with this is that those who don’t pay federal income tax, are still paying numerous taxes of several other kinds so its not like half of American or a large part of it isn’t doing some part to shoulder the cost of our federal government…

But if the tax is invisible then the taxpayer won’t have any incentive to think about the implications for his own finances of voting for higher taxes. Sales taxes, excise taxes, social security taxes, and a VAT should it be enacted, all fall into that category.

But the cruelest regressive tax is the state lottery. Almost everyone loses. The poor buy most of the tickets. And the winners’ lives are ravaged by the unexpected wealth. Clinical depression and all sorts of other woes are commonplace among “winners” of the big prizes. Those who win little prizes are just sucked into “trying” harder, that is to say, squandering more of their already scant cash.