"A sales tax on new items (the non-essential ones) instead of an income tax sounds like a pretty good idea to me. That way people would actually be encouraged to save some money for a change!"

Well, it hasn't worked yet, not where there is a sales tax. Also, there is the matter of who decides what is essential and what is not. Under an income tax system the way it has been proposed for Washington State, there would be a fair number of low income folks who would simply not pay taxes because they don't make enough. Also, you could deduct what you pay in state income tax from your federal income tax, so your tax money stays closer to home where you might notice some real benefit from it yourself.

When someone says "income tax," a lot of people go bananas. You can't just knee-jerk these things, you have to think it through.

Don Firth