In California, where we have those kinds of balances (no sales tax on groceries, for example), it ends up hitting the middle class disproportionately. Since th

In California, where we have those kinds of balances (no sales tax on groceries, for example), it ends up hitting the middle class disproportionately. Since the poor spend most of their income, and the rich don't spend most of it, you are in any case taxing a higher portion of the income of poor people (with consumption taxes).