Hacker News Reader

What is fair? For people that can save most of their money, VAT is a neglible proportion of their income. Poor people which spend all of their money (and more!) will pay a lot of VAT proportional to their income.

The first person might pay more in absolute terms, but that doesn't sound fair to me.

View on HN

As a society, we want people saving for the future and investing in businesses. If someone’s doing actions that are beneficial to society, I see no reason to tax them. But as soon as you buy the Lambo … you get taxed.

Let’s take another example. Two middle-class households with exactly the same income. One household, is putting every cent they can towards a 529 plan for their kids college education. Any left over goes towards retirement. The second household, spends every dollar they have on luxury items and toys.

Why should both households be taxed at the exact same rate?

Incomes and savings have no utility to people until they are spent.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com