there are infinite goods that people don’t really need but buy anyway: televisions, viagra, breast implants, push-up bras, nail polish, low-profile tires, the latest iPhone, cheap beer, non-alcoholic beer, fried chicken, vodka, drones, mazda miatas, tennis rackets, nose rings, tattoos, bluetooth headphones,…

the europeans - widely considered to be far more progressive than americans - have used the vat for decades. consumers don’t need to “understand” marginal utility. taxing consumption means the fat pay more. if you have money and you want champagne, you’re going to buy it

as a tax lawyer you should realize our compliance costs are actually much higher than the $3k check that gets stroked for our personal income taxes. businesses are unpaid tax collectors and the punishment for non-compliance is severe. there is a significant amount of time related to compliance that is straight…

the word “essential” is obviously subjective. in states with progressive sales taxes, essential means basic food stuffs and non-luxury clothing items. this isn’t new, states have been doing this for decades. the rich aren’t going to replace champagne with two percent milk. as a regular listener of the freakonomics…

milk doesn’t have to be taxed at all and in many states with sales taxes it’s not for the very reasons you mention. zero x the cost of milk means no tax. it’s pretty basic math

is your tax preparer also a CFP? if so send his/her contact information sounds like a great deal. he/she needs to be familiar with percentage of completion method accounting and deal with the pass-thru from an llc that’s owned by two s-corps thanks!

mr./mrs. mitten, you are preaching to the choir. I will never defend trump and I suspect that he doesn’t actually want the job and that his entire carnival barker routine is all about promoting his brand. the logical explanation for trump’s rise is that his supporters are hoping he rolls a proverbial (or literal)…

you are completely wrong and clearly don’t know a thing about running a small business. if you are a business owner your tax complexity is likely to increase ten-fold or more. I own a construction company and my wife owns a consulting company. a consumption tax is only regressive if you overtax essentials like food.…

yes. I own a construction business and my wife owns a consulting company. both are pass-through entities so two schedule K-1s and an extensive amount of planning to make sure we pay our quarterly payments on time and for the right amount. a consumption tax makes way more sense than income tax because the tax…

you should write tweets for trump - you have the same attitude, and similarly devoid of content

can I be a neo-con if I opposed the iraq war? fwiw, if I were to select a political mantra it would be jeffersonian republicanism, but I’m not that dogmatic. my political instincts are to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal, but not extremely so either way. I live in colorado and we have an interesting…

patriarchal power. you’d couldn’t create a better example. a 22-year old intern giving blow jobs to a man more than twice her age who just so happens to be the most powerful man in the world. did he sexually assault lewinsky? no. but was he able to exert power over her in an inappropriate way? of course.

the new york times doesn’t know anything about aleppo either:

fair points, but I suppose I don’t see what trump said and what bill clinton did - let’s stick with the known facts regarding monica lewinsky - as all that different. both are completely unacceptable. lewinsky’s relationship with bill was consensual in name only.

correct, what trump was describing was sexual assault. bill clinton has been accused of sexual assault by three women.

tell me, would you include the liberal voters of new mexico and massachusetts - who re-elected johnson and weld - as suffering from “massive ignorance”? nice work on the hyperbole, “massive” is such a great adjective

yes, bill isn’t running for president. is it your prediction that he will have no effect upon his wife’s administration?

apparently you don’t know that bill clinton has been accused of groping and/or rape by multiple women. which, by definition, isn’t consensual

actually, I like the fact that johnson and weld were both popular centrist republican governors, re-elected in liberal states. you might also consider their actual records and platform instead of setting up straw men to define libertarianism on your terms. johnson has advocated for replacing the income tax with a…

and where did I justify Trump’s behavior? I despise Trump. I am simply pointing out that the democrats seem to be OK with defending actual pussy-grabbing behavior