Saturday, June 01, 2013
DAT's it!
Was thinking about idiot Repooflican opposition to the Online Sales Tax, when a bigger point struck me.
Our entire tax system is designed to discourage local production. Think about it: When you sell INSIDE A STATE, you pay MORE than when you sell OUTSIDE A STATE. When you bring something in from overseas, whether it's parts or labor or a worker, you pay no tax at all.
This is exactly backwards.
We should be tipping the gradient the other way, encouraging things to be produced (or services to be provided) closer to where they're sold.
Solution: Replace all income and sales taxes with a DAT. Distance Added Tax.
Each time an object or a worker or an hour of labor is transferred from seller to buyer, it should pay tax according to the distance it moves. If it stays within one metro area, or within a 100 mile radius, no tax at all. Tax increases for each added 100 miles between source and user. Ohm's Law.
This would automatically provide tariffs on incoming stuff, incoming labor, and incoming workers, without the need to negotiate new treaties; but it would not require a tariff for things made and sold within a cross-border metro area like Vancouver/Bellingham or Detroit/Windsor.
Labels: Heimatkunde
¶ 5:06 PM
