Imagining a Progressive and Comprehensive Consumption Tax

The income tax system has become quite a mess. Unfortunately, the brunt of that mess falls primarily on the backs of the individual taxpayers, who are required to sift through the tens of thousands of pages of instructions and tax rules just to calculate, file, and pay what they owe. The filing burden and costs of compliance are already exorbitant, but they are only increasing.Designed primarily to relieve individual taxpayers of their filing burdens, the graduated consumption tax seeks to progressively generate revenue comparable to the income tax system at reasonable tax rates. The purpose of this article is not to offer proof, but simply to introduce the graduated consumption tax model as a possible alternative to the income tax system. This article anticipates both the potential benefits and weaknesses of implementing such a model and attempts to set the stage for further exploration and debate