What would happen if all income tax were dropped in favour of sales/consumption tax?
There's a vast multitude of taxes in the UK, as I am sure there are in most countries. It seems the UK want to have their piece of every monetary transaction made by people, and corporations in the UK. Here's a list of regular taxes we pay:
Road Tax
Fuel duty
Excise Duty (on alcohol & cigarettes)
Council Tax
TV License
Income Tax
National Insurance
Sales Tax/VAT
and... inflation
Corporation tax
To me it seems that if they calculated the marginal rate of tax and created a single tax rate (e.g. a single huge, income tax), which they applied it to everyone, it would be sufficiently high that there would be blood on the streets.
But my question is this:
The government are keen to tax both our income and our expenditure, but what if they totally ditched income tax and kept the sales/consumption tax?
I think there'd always be a portion of people who are inclined to save their money, but I think for many they'd just spend the additional money they have, generating tax revenue.
I love to see some studies, but I wonder whether the increased sales would completely fill the whole left by income tax? Interested in your thoughts.