Talk:Sales tax

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[edit] VAT

Surely this is the same as VAT or is VAT the european name for it? Either way, both pages need to be looked at. Ed g2s 15:17, 14 Aug 2003 (UTC)

According the VAT article they are a variant of conventional sales taxes, I'm not quite clear what the difference is, however. The VAT article also calls Canada's GST, which is locally refered to as a sales tax, a VAT. - SimonP 16:09, Aug 14, 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Regressivity

With regards to this pragraph:

"Sales taxes are generally regressive, that is, poorer people tend to pay a greater percentage of their income in sales tax than richer people, because they tend to spend a far higher percentage of their income. In some locations, items such as food, clothing, or prescription drugs are exempt from sales taxes ostensibly to alleviate the burden on the poor. Some of these exemptions (such as exemptions for clothing or prescription drugs) actually may make the tax more regressive, since poorer individuals may spend a smaller percentage of their incomes on these items than do richer individuals."

The progressivity of a tax should be measured in whatever is being taxed. A sales tax does not tax a poor person's sales at a higher rate than a rich person's. It is completely flat.

Measuring the progressivity of a sales tax in income is completely arbitrary.

69.19.2.225 12:03, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Measuring the progressivity of a sales tax in income is exactly the definition of progressivity. Please see Regressive tax. Rmhermen 14:45, Mar 14, 2005 (UTC)

So this article has a lot of flaws in it. But the regressive thing really isn't one of them. That depends on how you measure the regressiveness or progressiveness of a tax. So consider a rich person A and a poor person B. Rich person A makes $100, and poor person B makes $11. Suppose the sales tax is %10. Suppose person A spent $20 on goods subject to a sales tax, and saved the rest. So he payed $2 in tax. Suppose person B spent $10 and paid $1 in tax. So if we measure regressiveness as the share of income a person pays in taxes, then a low earner in this scenario is paying 9% of his wages in tax, and person A is paying only 2% of his wages in tax. Even though the tax rate on goods was supposedly equal, and person A paid more in taxes. Debomachine 22:36, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sales tax or Excise tax?

Article reads, "In the United States, it is nearly always explicitly added on and not included in the price, a notable exception is sales taxes on gasoline."

Do we want to refer to gasoline excise taxes at the pump in the US as "sales tax"? Thank you. Have Gun, Will Travel 02:54, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

I've always known it as an excise. Morphh ^(talk) 03:06, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Me too. I see Sales tax has a cleanup tag; I'll probably try giving it a work over (unless you got any other suggestions?). Thanks. Have Gun, Will Travel 17:27, 7 February 2007 (UTC)