Bill Gate's Solution to Income Inequality

[Jenny A]

I see three problems with a consumption tax. The first has been beaten into the ground in the first few posts and that is that it would be an extremely regressive tax. That could be fixed with an extremely large initial deduction. The second problem is that not all spending uses up resources. Music downloads and other electronic entertainments use essentially no resources. Ditto money spent of physical therapy, and other services. But a consumption tax as proposed in the OP is supposed to preserve environmental resources. As such it a blunt instrument. Targeted sales or use taxes would do a much better job of curbing consumption of resources if the is the goal. Third, taxes on goods and services always has a negative effect on the economy because it slows buying.