Tax the what????

     Taxes, taxes, taxes. Tax this, tax that. Tax income. Tax cigs, tax beer. Tax clothes, tax homes, tax cars. Tax soda, tax fast food, tax cosmetic surgery.
     Hmmm. Tax things purchased. How about we just limit taxes to that. Let's get rid of the Income Tax, and just tax everything that people purchase. You know, like, a SALES TAX!
     That's what Congress is floating. Not a sales tax per se, but a piecemeal taxing of goods purchased, according to whomever they think owes more to society, according to their views on human health and behavior.
     The problem is, that defies the Constitution, and won't hold up under scrutiny. The Constitution states that one of the powers of the Federal Government is to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States."
     The problem here is the 'uniformity' of the taxes proposed. Even the sliding scale of taxation on income could be said to be non-uniform, if pushed. But a sales tax, say 10%, that would be uniform.
     Granted, people would at first slow down on purchasing luxury items, even higher-price non-luxury items, but only at first. People would learn to budget, something Congress has never bothered to try to learn, and our society would begin to save before purchasing, such would be the power of seeing the 10% added to the bottom line every time they pulled out their wallets.
     But given time, spending would resume, as people saw greater and greater return on their hard work. Every paycheck would be a little slice of instant gratification. Bank accounts would skyrocket, investing would boom, and our economy would soar.
     Income taxes are confiscatory, sanctioned thievery, and should be abolished. A Sales Tax would be a voluntary contribution, paid by all, uniformly, and would stimulate the economy like President Obama has failed to do.