No simple tax solutions
A pro-business group wants to end three business taxes and expand the sales tax to services.
Think tanks, advocacy groups and legislative commissions have documented the imperfections of Virginia’s tax code. Loopholes and tax breaks cost the commonwealth billions of dollars annually, many with poorly defined goals or none at all. Much of the service sector is exempt from the collection duties imposed on merchants.
But plans promising a simpler and fairer tax system fail because they create winners and losers. The latter inevitably become more energetic lobbyists. Small but scrappy bands of bowlers, barbers, dry cleaners and funeral home directors prowl the halls of the Capitol terrorizing hapless lawmakers. Efforts to appease the afflicted cause complex problems to grow more complex.
May 4, 2012 - 6:16 AM
There is no “simple” tax solution and therein lies the rub. Most people agree that taxes are unfair, manipulated in favor of one group, manipulative of another group and many feel punitive to all. The bottom line remains that roads, bridges, school, landfills, libraries, aid in disasters, sidewalks/streetlights, police, firefighters/EMS, Planning/Zoning/Code enforcement, councils, mayors, secretaries and department heads, landscaping/maintenance, trash removal, street cleaning, aid to the poor/disabled/unemployed, the courts, and myriad other entities, infrastructure and services need to be paid for.
The best we can do is to work for a fair, more transparent and less abused tax structure. Simple, easy, fair and free of all abuse is not going to happen.
If you shift taxes onto business, they figure a way around that. Oddly, the common meme is already that they “shift that burden onto their customers”, so I do not see any difference except that the working man will continue to be shafted and the boss man will continue to gain. How wide some people think that chasm can be before disaster hits is only a guess and a matter of time.