are the following taxes good or bad?

[WalterMitty]

graduated income tax
sales tax
sales tax on food
sales tax on prepared food
hotel occupancy tax
luxury tax
inheritance tax
gift tax
capital gains tax
alcohol tax
tobacco tax
gas tax

[Bono]

All are bad.

[© tweed]

graduated income tax - good
sales tax - good
sales tax on food - bad in most cases
sales tax on prepared food - bad in most cases
hotel occupancy tax - good
luxury tax - you mean, in sports?  good
inheritance tax - bad
gift tax - not familiar
capital gains tax - bad
alcohol tax- good
tobacco tax - good
gas tax - bad

[WalterMitty]

graduated income tax=good
sales tax=very bad
sales tax on food=bad
sales tax on prepared food=good
hotel occupancy tax=good
luxury tax=good within reason
inheritance tax=bad
gift tax=bad
capital gains tax=very bad
alcohol tax=good
tobacco tax=good
gas tax=good

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

GOOD:
graduated income tax
inheritance tax
gift tax
capital gains tax

BAD:
sales tax
sales tax on food
sales tax on prepared food
hotel occupancy tax
luxury tax
alcohol tax

BOTH:
tobacco tax
gas tax

[Emsworth]

I think that all taxes are "bad," but they are also necessary if we are to have a government. Relative to each other, and assuming that the tax rates are reasonable:

Good
graduated income tax
sales tax
gas tax

Bad
sales tax on food
sales tax on prepared food
hotel occupancy tax
luxury tax
inheritance tax
gift tax
capital gains tax
alcohol tax
tobacco tax

[Frodo]

Graduated Income Tax Good

Sales Tax Neutral

Sales tax on food Bad

Sales tax on prepared food Bad

Hotel Occupancy Tax Abstain (I don't know enough about this tax to really have an informed opinion)

Luxury Tax Good

Inheritance Tax Good

Gift Tax Good

Capital Gains Tax Good

Alcohol Tax Good

Tobacco Tax Good

Gas Tax Neutral

[??????????]

graduated income tax (on individuals) - bad
sales tax - good
sales tax on food - bad
sales tax on prepared food - good
hotel occupancy tax - good
luxury tax - bad
inheritance tax -bad
gift tax - bad
capital gains tax -bad
alcohol tax - bad
tobacco tax - bad
gas tax - good

I must add that I am against a income tax for individuals but generally do not have any problems with a reasonable income tax on businesses.

[nini2287]

graduated income tax-good
sales tax-good
sales tax on food-bad
sales tax on prepared food-good
hotel occupancy tax-bad
luxury tax-good, within reason
inheritance tax-good
gift tax-bad
capital gains tax-good
alcohol tax-good
tobacco tax-good
gas tax-good

[A18]

All bad except gas tax

[John Dibble]

I think that all taxes are "bad," but they are also necessary if we are to have a government. Relative to each other, and assuming that the tax rates are reasonable:

Good
graduated income tax
sales tax
gas tax

Bad
sales tax on food
sales tax on prepared food
hotel occupancy tax
luxury tax
inheritance tax
gift tax
capital gains tax
alcohol tax
tobacco tax

I would pretty much agree with this assessment, though I would add gas taxes are only good if they are used to fund roads, as it is the users of the roads that fund them that way.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Taxes are a necessary evil.

From least evil to most evil (top to bottom):

Inheritance tax
Graduated Income xax
Luxury tax
Hotel occupancy tax
Capital gains tax
Alcohol tax
Gift tax
Tobacco tax
Gas tax
Sales tax
Sales tax on prepared food
Sales tax on food

About a year ago I introduced my children to a great man (former State Representative and Democrat Party County Chair) who had led the effort to sucessfully repeal the sales tax on food in my state.

[Max Power]

All can be both good or bad, depending on the situation.

[J. J.]

graduated income tax:  Good, when not confiscatory
sales tax:  Bad
sales tax on food:  Worse
sales tax on prepared food:  Bad
hotel occupancy tax:  Middle,
luxury tax:  I'd like to see this defined: generally bad.
inheritance tax:   Bad
gift tax:  Good
capital gains tax:  Bad, destroys the incentives to invest
alcohol tax:  Middle to Good
tobacco tax:  Middle to Good
gas tax:  Good, if proceeds are limited to transportation

tick tax:  Good, we should drain all those ticks before they drain us.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

graduated income tax - excellent
sales tax - depends
sales tax on food - bad
sales tax on prepared food - if expensive yes, if cheap ok
hotel occupancy tax - good
luxury tax - excellent
inheritance tax - excellent
gift tax - depends
capital gains tax - good
alcohol tax - ok
tobacco tax - good
gas tax - ok

 
 
 

[DanielX]

graduated income tax - rather bad
sales tax - good if reasonable
sales tax on food - pretty bad
sales tax on prepared food - somewhat bad
hotel occupancy tax - kind of bad
luxury tax - so-so
inheritance tax - pretty bad
gift tax - pretty bad
capital gains tax - beyond a flat income tax, bad
alcohol tax - so-so
tobacco tax - so-so
gas tax - a little bad

[TomC]

Taxes are either necessary or not necessary depending on public acceptance of how it's spent ( I know, I'm laughing too). I wouldn't say they are either "good" or "bad." That said...


graduated income tax- fine unless excessive deductions skew the true levy
sales tax- fine, but prefer above
sales tax on food- against
sales tax on prepared food- fine
hotel occupancy tax- fine if not excessive
luxury tax- does it really collect enough to make a difference?
inheritance tax- OK
gift tax- not OK
capital gains tax- yes
alcohol tax- see tobacco tax below, except a little less so. If we mean hard liquor
tobacco tax- as close to pay-as-you-go as your gonna get, conservatives. Quite an apporopriate tax for govts with a health care safety net (disclaimer: I'm a smoker)
gas tax- for revenue collection, fine, as environmental policy, dumb

[Everett]

All are bad.

^^^^^

Though I won't demand them to be removed, of course, I find food taxes in particular rather silly.

[Dave from Michigan]

graduated income tax - good
sales tax - ok
sales tax on food - bad
sales tax on prepared food - bad
hotel occupancy tax -bad
luxury tax - bad
inheritance tax -bad
gift tax - bad
capital gains tax - bad
alcohol tax -bad
tobacco tax - bad
gas tax - bad

[Ebowed]

graduated income tax - Neutral
sales tax - Bad
sales tax on food - Worst
sales tax on prepared food - Bad
hotel occupancy tax - Bad
luxury tax - Neutral
inheritance tax - Good
gift tax - Neutral
capital gains tax - Neutral
alcohol tax - Good
tobacco tax - Good
gas tax - Neutral

[Jake]

graduated income tax - good and bad, more good
sales tax - good
sales tax on food - bad
sales tax on prepared food - bad
hotel occupancy tax -bad
luxury tax - bad
inheritance tax - bad
gift tax - bad
capital gains tax - bad
alcohol tax - good
tobacco tax - good
gas tax - good and bad, more good

[opebo]

graduated income tax - GOOD

sales tax - BAD

sales tax on food - BAD

sales tax on prepared food - BAD

hotel occupancy tax - BAD

luxury tax - BAD

inheritance tax - GOOD

gift tax - GOOD

capital gains tax - GOOD, if adjusted for inflation

alcohol tax - BAD

tobacco tax - BAD

gas tax - GOOD, if revenues are directed to public transport, etc.  A high gas tax would be more an ending of the current massive subsidies to automobile transport than an actual tax.

[David S]

All are bad. In my opinion, aside from no tax, the fairest tax would be one that causes equal pain to everyone. That way everyone would share in the burden of funding government. Graduated income taxes which exempt the poor are bad in that respect, because the people who gain the benefits of government largess don't have to pay for it. They have no incentive to see government spending reduced. On the other hand, working people get stuck with the tax bill and may not be even eligible for the programs they fund, such as food stamps, medicaid, etc. It creates a class warfare which pits the upper income brackets against the lower brackets.

[falling apart like the ashes of American flags]

graduated income tax - good
sales tax - good
sales tax on food - bad
sales tax on prepared food - bad
hotel occupancy tax - good
luxury tax - good
inheritance tax - good
gift tax - bad
capital gains tax - good
alcohol tax - bad
tobacco tax - GOOD
gas tax - generally good, sometimes bad

[© tweed]

BRTD, why is an alcohol tax bad and a tobacco tax bad?  Because you drink and don't smoke?