Topic: Sales Tax

Massachusetts maintains a flat 5.3% income tax due to constitutional prohibitions against graduated rates. Residents also face a 6.25% sales tax, high property taxes, and numerous administrative fees for services ranging from ferry rides to gun license renewals.

In 2010, a proposal sought to cut the Massachusetts sales tax from 6.25% to 3%. The Massachusetts Teachers Association led the opposition to protect generous defined-benefit pensions, which often grant retired teachers 80% of their highest salary regardless of market conditions.

Despite a "no new taxes" pledge, Mitt Romney oversaw a $5 billion increase in annual state spending during his four-year term. He implemented numerous "fees" that functioned as taxes, including tripling gun license costs, closing loopholes for internet sales taxes, and enabling local business property tax hikes.

George Humphrey interviews George Ashley Lewis, founder of the Austin chapter of Citizens for an Alternative Tax System (CATS). Lewis advocates for the total elimination of the federal income tax and the IRS, to be replaced by a national retail sales tax. He argues that the current system is "monstrous" and cites a case where a restaurant was raided by federal agents based on false embezzlement retaliation claims.

Roger Blakely, a student and law firm clerk, discusses why he believes the current tax system is unfair to lower-income individuals. He advocates for a national sales tax over a flat tax, arguing it would eliminate the massive IRS bureaucracy. Blakely suggests a graduated sales tax to protect the poor, though he acknowledges this might reintroduce some level of form-filling and government oversight.

A postal worker claims the U.S. Postal Service is a private company, a point Steve Lane disputes while observing the worker's enthusiasm for collecting tax mail. Other citizens in line express support for a national sales tax, citing the vision of the founding fathers. The segment ends with Lane preparing to show a producer's footage from a different public access program.

A caller suggests hitting the government in the "money" by resisting the IRS. The host warns that the elite might replace the IRS with a more tyrannical national sales tax involving microchips, using the "boiling frog" analogy of incrementalism to describe the loss of liberty.