02-11-2021, 12:23 PM
(02-11-2021, 10:58 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: I don't actually like a sales tax though, I think they end up, in practice being fairly regressive. A progressive income tax is best, but even property tax, essentially amounts to a wealth tax (something that is horrifying people in any other form). If we got rid of the regressive features of property tax (where certain rental buildings pay double) I don't see why it is such a bad idea.
Income tax is fully progressive in that the rates increase with income. Property taxes and sales taxes are not, as the tax rate stays constant regardless of the annual spending amount (for sales tax) or the property value (for property taxes). In both of those cases, higher-income people do end up paying more taxes as they tend to live in more expensive properties and they tend to spend more money, but it's taxed at the same rate as everyone else.
If we want additional municipal funding, and we want it to be progressively taxed, it would either need to be a bump to the income tax rates (increase each tax rate bracket by 1/50 of its current rate, or whatever) or else change the legislation to allow property tax rates to increase with the value of the property.