> > Does anybody know if work has been done on what determines
> > the kind of taxation rather than the tax rate?
> > -fabio
The history of taxation in the US was that sales taxes were used (including
tariffs) in the 1800s, but this was thought by many to have a higher
incidence on lower-income people in contrast to the rich, who had a lower
proportion of their wealth and income taxed.
So there was a push to tax incomes to have the rich pay more taxes. During
WWII, the income tax expanded to include middle-class wages, and now it is
entrenched.
Meanwhile, on the State and local scene, the property tax on real estate
has declined while most of the States too adopted income taxes, riding on
top of the national income tax. All the US States so far as I know base
their income taxes on US forms, and then put in alterations. Sales taxes
have gradually risen as well. The property tax, being most visible and
local, has been limited while the other taxes have risen.
Fred Foldvary
