What if the U.S. Government implemented a federal sales tax on all online purchases amounting to 1-3 % of the item being purchased? What if they then took that revenue and set up Individual Retirement Accounts for citizens of the U.S. (and possibly residents)? We would still have Social Security Benefits. This new revenue would be another income stream for the retired.
The finer points to this is that many of us shop online. The more money you have the more money you spend online. This would serve as a tax that takes into account wealth distribution in the reverse. The payments of interest on the IRA (Let's call it Federal IRA'S) would be the same for everyone. The amount would fluctuate base on how much sales tax is collected. It has been stated that for the holiday season of 2014, 89 billion dollars will be generated. The amount of tax revenue will only go up as online shopping increases.
Collection of the funds can be accomplished by expanding the duties of the IRS. Collection could also be done through credit card companies. They are the point of sale after all to some degree for this purpose. Distribution can be accomplished by expanding the functions of the Social Security Administration. The collected revenue could be managed in similar fashion to the way money is managed through index mutual funds. Questions on the age retirement and what it should be would need to be answered. We are all living longer.
So, would you be willing to pay a federal sales tax on your online purchase if it benefited you in this manner?
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