[JoeProBono]

[FoxInSocks]

Very interesting perspectives. Thanks for posting!

[Portcall24]

A simply explanation regarding the impact of taxes.

The article points out “Would you start going to the Boise barber? I’m betting you’d answer no because even though the price is cheaper, the cost is greater.”

While this is true it is based upon the economic concept of time-place utility. People pay $8.50 for a small beer at an NFL game because at that time and place that’s what you have to pay based upon it being the only one available. Airports are famous for that. Service stations close to Interstate highways get more for gas because of the convenience of the place and foregoing the expenditure of time to explore for cheaper gas.

[bgill]

No, because we'd be criminals

No, the PC term would be "undocumented transaction" so we should be able to make all the undocumented transactions we wanted and the government should give us free perks for doing so.

[Colinsky]

Politicians have what economists call a zero-elasticity vision of the world. In other words, they're fool enough to believe that people will behave after taxes are levied just as they behaved before and that the only effect of a tax is to bring in more revenue.

Williams explained it in a previous essay:
"In 1990, when Congress imposed a luxury tax on yachts, private airplanes and expensive automobiles, Sen. Ted Kennedy and then-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell crowed publicly about how the rich would finally be paying their fair share of taxes.

"But yacht retailers reported a 77 percent drop in sales, and boat builders laid off an estimated 25,000 workers.

"Kennedy and Mitchell simply assumed that the rich would behave the same way after the imposition of the luxury tax as they did before and the only difference would be more money in the government's coffers. They had a zero-elasticity vision of the world, namely that people do not respond to price changes."

[vannrox]

Americans are being eaten away at by a trillion tiny little bites. The huge excise taxes on transactions and gasoline all add up. You can easily see the result of this in the cost of everyday items.

Here in China, I bought a bag of 25 tomatoes from the local grocery store. It cost me 6.9 yuan ($us 1.09)

I do not know what the cost of tomatoes is in the USA, but I do believe that it is much more expensive.

All these little taxes all add up, and makes living a very expensive thing indeed. It is because of these taxes that fresh foods are more expensive than canned foods.

But, taxes aren’t the only problem. part of it is corporate greed, and government compliance in the enforcement of corporate monopolies.

Look at Viagra. In the USA, you have to go to a doctor to get a prescription to get it. Then pay between $us 10 to $us 20 per pill depending on whether it is generic or not.

In China, as in most of the rest of the world, you buy it over the counter. Not just in pharmacies, but also in places like supermarkets, restaurants, and 7-11s. It cost $us 0.02 per pill to make, and you can buy them here in China very Cheaply for off-brand versions. Often on the order of $us 0.50 pill.

Americans have become slaves. Instead of being chained to Roman overloads, Americans are chained by the links of taxes and an ever spiraling out of control debt.