Maybe we should start taxing consumption and not productivity...

This interesting blog-post (Fighting Climate Change with a 'Stuff Tax') makes the argument that the U.S. should consider divorcing itself from the traditional tax model we currently have (which taxes employment and productivty), and start taxing consumption (a "Stuff Tax"). This, in turn, will take into account the "true costs" of producing "stuff" and will provide a better tax-base for our government.

This is not a bad concept...focus our taxation on consumption instead of production. Unfortunately, this would take some SERIOUS political power to pull off in this country. Overhauling our entire tax-system would turn our world upside-down. But maybe that's what we need. The current system seems broken, with too many loop-holes for those that make a lot of money and does not seem to account for the "true" costs of making "stuff".

Maybe we should start letting people keep more of their paychecks and taxing them more when they want to buy expensive "stuff". Thoughts?

-JA