If a sales tax covers services as well as physical things? Isn't that the tax on money spent? I only asked the question, because of the theory of only taxing people on what they use, not on income.

As an Australian reading this thread, (we are a basic welfare state.) I get the impression that many Americans view welfare as charity. They would rather get an itemised bill of tax requirement and how that money was used, and a form to say which uses they approved or disapproved of.

Here, when you work, your boss is required to invest into a super fund, you can make your own investments into it, and the government will put money into it (from your own tax) in the understanding that you will support yourself. If you get to aged, and you have no money, they give you the bare minimum to survive, and expect your family and community to support you.

I don't know how balanced the views in this thread are, they seem to be polar opposites of each other. You can never tell if its vocal minorities arguing, or if people are that one sided on issues.

Just for comparison, here is the basic Swedish tax system;

Your employer pays 30% of your "listed income" to the state.
Then you pay another 29-32% (depending on where you live) of your listed income as your income tax (the first 18000 SEK or so is not taxed, roughly $2800).

Any income over 372100 SEK is taxed an extra 20%, and over 532700 SEK a further 5%.

All numbers are yearly.

We also have a VAT (or whatever the correct term is) on goods and services at between 10% and 25% (most are at 25%). Groceries and "culture" is on the lower end of the spectrum.

I don't really mind paying taxes, but it's a TAD much in Sweden.

But they're highly dependent on the US which buys all their stuff!

With all the talk of "needing more growth," is anybody concerned that we are already consuming (and producing) too much? I don't think it's very healthy for a country to be constantly flooded with propaganda encouraging more consumption and materialism.

Wouldn't that encourage the government to promote a culture where people consume more?

People would be more likely to save and invest money than spend it on crap they don't need, since that's how you would avoid paying taxes. That's not a bad thing though, IMO. Ultimately people are still going to buy things because there's no sense in having money if you never use it.