Any telecommuting fpDevelopers watching this?

[Nancy Palmquist]

> 
> The sad thing about that is that the people it would hit hardest are those
> that can least afford it.
> 
> mark->

It taxes your money on the way out instead of on the way in.  If you 
choose not to spend it, you are not being taxed until you do.

I think if you look at it, a person with a $100,000 income spends a lot 
more than a person with a $20,000 income.  Anyway you look at it, it 
would weigh more heavily on the higher incomes.

The items they purchase are different also.  A lower income family would 
spend most of their money on food-clothes-housing-utilities.  Items that 
could be exempt in some way or other.  A higher income household would 
spend more on entertainment, electronics, travel, luxuries of one sort 
or another.

I think that could be a more equitable formula.

A friend of mine did a study for HUD some years back to compare energy 
use to income level and family size.  They expected to find that the 
family size had more to do with energy use at home than income, but it 
turned out that a family of 2 that earned more than 100,000 were using 
more energy than a family of 4 with an income under 25,000.  It turned 
out that the additional income allowed the 2 people to own more items 
that run on electricity, such as pool filters, hot tubs, extra TV's, 
computers, bigger houses that need air conditioning and heating, more 
kitchen appliances, etc.

With a tax based on purchases, those people with more income that buy 
more stuff would pay more tax.  I don;t find that unreasonable.  Stuff 
like electricity could start being taxable after a certain amount, such 
as $1200/year.  Anything over that is taxable.

I wouldn't even be adverse to refunding taxes for the very poorest 
people, like we give a tax credit now for some people at the very 
bottom.  If your income is less than $X, we would refund so much per 
dependent.  I wouldn't even worry about that kind of credit.  But unless 
they start doing this stuff nationwide, it will just make the taxes 
difficult for business to deal with.  Business will relocate to try to 
stay competitive.

In PA, they tried to make computer consulting taxable.  The business 
that do that work started moving out of the state.  They realized, 
before it was too late, that they lost revenue instead of generating it. 
  The tax was repealled.

Same thing happened to the Boat tax - luxury tax on large boats.  Put 
every boat manufacturer in the US out of business.  The high end income 
have the ability to get merchandise anywhere in the world.  We need to 
encourage business here, not discourage it.

Well - I should get back to work.

Nancy
-- 
Nancy Palmquist 		MOS & filePro Training Available
Virtual Software Systems	Web Based Training and Consulting	
PHONE: (412) 835-9417		   Web site:  http://www.vss3.com