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There are a number of goods that do have associated sales taxes that apply on any transfer, including some of the most expensive goods Americans buy. Particular
by asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
There are a number of goods that do have associated sales taxes that apply on any transfer, including some of the most expensive goods Americans buy. Particularly, in many jurisdictions, there are transfer taxes on houses and cars.
- chaostheory 6y ago1. It doesn't mean that you can't change those selective sales taxes. We already have selective sales taxes active in the US. For example, I don't pay sales taxes on groceries. 2. Migrating over to VAT doesn't mean these taxes go away. 3. The only guaranteed consequence for switching to the VAT system is that taxes will become less transparent, so they will likely increase.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y agoOf course. I only meant to point out that there are cases sales taxes apply to post-consumer transfers. I would be interested to know what fraction of post consumer sales transactions are indeed subject to sales taxes. You are correct that this does not make VAT inherently superior.
- labcomputer 6y agoThat's not quite true and/or not a difference from countries with VAT: 1. Dealers (who are buying cars for resale) do not pay sales tax on cars. When you sell a used car to a dealer, the dealer doesn't pay sales tax on it. When you sell a used car to an auto recycler / scrapyard, they don't pay sales tax. If you know of any states that are exceptions, I'd love to learn what those are. 2. A quick Google search (by no means comprehensive, so I could be wrong) suggests that most countries with VAT also charge a land transfer tax.