Consumption Tax over VAT

The first problem is psychological because every individual must feel that they are being treated fairly. I do agree that people who have less money, and in turn spend less money, should pay less in taxes. This is, by definition, already built in to an individual consumption tax. But everyone, rich or poor, must pay the same rate on every new product and every service that they purchase. If you start to provide exceptions or you provide any form of rebate then one group feels that they are getting something from the government(other citizens) for nothing and the rest feel like they are getting shafted. No matter what controls are written into the code the tax percentage will grow and more exceptions will be added by legislators trying to show preference to their group for every possible excuse known to man (like it is now). For everyone to feel that the taxation system is fair we should choose an consumption tax that taxes each individual's consumption of new products and services equally. Then at the same time we must attempt to equalize the per capita spending for government provided social services to the local level. Equal taxation of consumption and equal per capita spending would provide the fairest and most non-political re-distribution of wealth.

The second problem with a VAT is that it only taxes legal businesses. A very large portion of our economy is in the black market which yields very high profits to the people providing these products and services but these people do not pay any income taxes. Whether you want to try to police these black market products and services that these people are providing does not matter in this discussion, they will not recieve benefit from that income until they spend it and most of this spending will be legal and they will have to pay the consumption tax. A proper Individual Consumption tax has many benefits:

- Eliminates all other forms of taxation that politicians use to reward groups they like and punish those groups that they do not like.
- Promotes true fairness in government treatment of citizens.
- Rewards saving and investment.
- Promotes Caveat Emptor (buyer beware and choose purchases carefully).
- Punishes Opulence and luxury spending by those who cannot afford it.
- Promotes recycling and conservation of resoures by not taxing used products.

If the United States (or any other country) adopted an individual consumption tax and equalized per capita government social spending each citizen would be treated as fairly as possible by the government. It would lead to a booming economy, high investment from abroad, but also a marked advance in civilization (and I don't think I am overstating the possibilities). As citizens of the United States we should stop trying to gain advantage for ourselves and 'our group' over another and instead just try to treat everyone that is not trying to hurt others equally, and it will benefit everyone.