Re: VA sales tax question

[Arthur Woolf]

I've got a non-technical paper on this issue. I looked at the Vermont/New Hampshire border. Until Vermont implemented a sales tax in 1969, per capita retail sales in the counties bordering the Connecticut River in Vermont and New Hamsphire were identical. Since then the Vermont sales tax has gone from 3% to 5%. New Hampshire's is 0%. Today, per capita retail sales are 60% higher on the NH side compared to the VT side. The paper can be accessed at http://www.vteconomy.com/Border.pdf


Art Woolf



At 09:44 PM 10/21/02 -0400, you wrote:

I didn't ask my question very clearly.  Sure, a sales tax shifts
purchases.  They want to raise 2 billion in Northern Virginia.  That
has to come from somewhere.  And there will be leakage -- some people
will be more inclined to buy off the net or in DE which has no sales
tax.

But, where will the money come from?  Will people buy less each week?
Will randomly select items to strike from their purchases?  Or will
they have difficulty at the end of the month.

Again, I'm sorry that my question wasn't clear.

mitch

******************************************************
Arthur G. Woolf, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Economics
President, Vermont Council on Economic Education       www.bsad.uvm.edu/vcee
339 Old Mill
University of Vermont
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(802) 656-0190 or (802) 656-4711
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