OP said "real friends". Real friends don't operate the way you describe. They look forward to any opportune moments to interact with their "real friends".

How is CS, true CS, any less of a science than Biology, Chemistry, Anthropology, or any other "ogy" you want to throw out there? Yes, there are many who end up working in the private sector, working for financial services firms developing apps, but how is that any different from the chemist working on drug manufacturing?

Much ground-breaking research has come out of the CS community. What IS science by your definition? Do not be so dismissive of the "science" in CS.

... can be achieved by predictive analytics software already available. Someone just needs to pipe the tax data into the system. Its really quite trivial to accomplish from a technological perspective. Its the political perspective that stops any such endeavors from happening.

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Opinion:=TMyOpinion.Create(Me);

wrong thread... ignore.

... can be achieved by predictive analytics software already available. Someone just needs to pipe the tax data into the system. Its really quite trivial to accomplish from a technological perspective. Its the political perspective that stops any such endeavors from happening.

The primary problem with the logic of your position is it is in essense a "horse has left the barn" approach to holding business accountable. What good is suing a business if you're dead? Or if you're homestead is no longer habitable? The business can declare bankruptcy, and any chance of recovering damages is gone. How does your philosophy deal with that? The truth is it does not.

You may not like regulation, and it is certainly not perfect, but in reality it is the ONLY means by which a population can protect itself from the abuses of the snake oil salesman. The REAL problem we have today is exemptions in statute, and the involvement of industry (without oversight!) in crafting legislation alongside either corruptable or incompetent politicians.

I have yet to read any serious idea as to how to realistically combat this problem.

Part of the problem here is EOL and the concept of Planned Obsolescence.

Maybe once there are enough demands on manufactures to keep them solvent regardless of the peaks and valleys of demand cycles they can revisit this couterproductive concept and start extending the EOL on much of the core durable goods, thereby reducing (or maintaining) current levels of energy comsumption.

Then again, that would mean essentially stopping growth, which would have a negative consequence for everyone. What a tangled web indeed!!!

Great idea!! Maybe the government can first get back the BILLIONS it gave Verizon and AT&T to lay all that infrastructure in the first place?!?

Go back to the capitalism alter and pray for intervention from the Koch brothers.

"Natalie Portman hot grits T-shirt eventually."

Before, after, or during the pregnancy? It matters...

just curious...

Why bother tracking by individual? The tax is collected at time of purchase. There is no need to track beyond that. There would be no 1040ez anymore... get it?

As for discounts on bulk purchases, so what? Its absolutely irrelevant.

As for Amazon and collection of taxes... puhhleezz. They can keep some of their accounting department that would otherwise be laid off for the reduced complexity of the tax system.

A graduated system is still in play, just at the back end, after collection and stated income are known. I think I spelled that out quite clearly in my prior post.

Too many assumptions... there are no ideal competitive markets anymore. Prices are fixed (and when I say fixed I mean rigged) everywhere you look, in every market from food to advertising.

And you're not looking at the entirety of the income statement and balance sheet for manipulation opportunities, and there are currently way too many of those.

You set the sales tax rate flatly, and then settle the disproportional tax levy on the annual filing where you can have a simple, clean, discount rate based on reported income.

This is clean, simple, and inevitably fair. It is NOT perfect, but a hell of a lot better than the mess we've got right now.

Poorer folks will pay more in real terms over the course of the year, but they'll get a check back each year from the government to reimburse them. That check could include an inflation calculation, etc... to offset the initial outlay.

You can toy with the idea of setting up sales tax exempt items (such as food), but then you start to make the whole thing more complicated, and prone to manipulation.

I conduct my personal and professional life by the KISS model. I think our government can learn from it.

Both you and PP need mod points for insightfulness.

They should do away with the gas tax (and any other tax at any level of government meant to repaire roads) and put in place a tax on any vehicle, payable at time of registration (annually) based on the Gross Vehicle Weight and mileage change from previous registration, which is known of EVERY vehicle type, including big trucks. This is fair in every respect I can think of, without the intrusiveness of GPS, etc...