Kerry Slams Bush's Idea for a National Sales Tax
MercuryNews.com
MIDDLE CLASS WOULD FEEL BURDEN
John Kerry said Thursday that Bush's musing about a national
sales tax is an insult to financially struggling voters and would
amount to “one of the largest tax increases on the middle class in
American history.”
…”We
know exactly who that's going to hurt,” Kerry said. “That's going to
hurt small business. It's going to hurt jobs. It's going to hit the
pocketbooks of those who need and deserve tax relief most in America.”
Bush has suggested
that overhauling the tax code would be a second-term priority if he is
re-[s]elected. While campaigning in Florida on Tuesday, he said replacing
the income tax with a federal sales tax is “an interesting idea that we
ought to explore seriously.”
(more)
Blog For Iowa 
I read one article that suggested that the truth is that Bush would create a national sales tax at the rate of 56%! Low-ball figures I read said 26%. That would mean that the real buying power of people who are struggling to make ends meet – those who make less than $40,000 a year – would suddenly be cut in half. Can you imagine what that would do to big-ticket items like appliances and cars? The lower and middle classes would be completely devastated financially, as even MORE of the tax burden shifted to us. And Kerry is absolutely right about how it would destroy small businesses. People would stop buying all but the basic necessities AND the small business owners would be responsible for collecting the national sales tax, just like they are now with the state and local sales tax, which is just another huge bookkeeping burden placed on them.
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I mean, for heaven's sake, the economy would come to a crashing halt! Instantly. No one would buy cars or trucks or other big ticket items. No one would buy flowers or plants. Parents would stop buying clothes for themselves and just get what their kids needed because they'd outgrown their other clothes. A six dollar movie ticket would become 8 dollars. A $25 DVD would cost $38.
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