Re: CHAT: postcodes

Quoting Roger Mills <romilly@...>:

> A permanent number would certainly simplify life-- here in the US, we have
> to renew our plates every year, for a price of course; when you buy a new
> or used car, you have to get new plates, for a price of course.  A very
> lucrative racket for the state. How does it happen the French/English etc.
> haven't discovered this easy source of revenue?  Or do they have some other
> way to collect a yearly tribute?
Most European countries have considerably higher marginal rates
for income taxes, and they also have numerous other forms of
taxation little used or entirely absent in the US, like the
value added tax and "ecotaxes" (in German, _ökosteuer_).
Most US states have very, very low incomes taxes, or have no income
tax at all, but because many are at the same time obliged
constitutionally to maintain balanced budgets, they have to be
creative in finding sources of revenue.  This makes them
susceptible to big shortages when the economy isn't expanding
quickly, as is currently the case.  During the last recession,
Anne Richards got a lottery established in Texas by threatening
to create an income tax, since the lottery (the "brain tax")
seemed the lesser of two evils to social conservatives.

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Thomas Wier            "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
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