If we were to do away with the 16th Amendment, thereby eliminating Federal income taxes, could the gov't make up the lost revenue via tariffs on imports (or some other method which creates American jobs)?
Seems like a win to me, but I don't know where to start to find the right stats.
Your mention of property taxes is one I hadn't considered on a Federal level.
I'm trying to avoid the reduction effect that taxes can have when we tax good things. But, real estate is static. The amount of real estate in a given area will never go down, absent natural catastrophe. The values might go down, but the actual underlying asset is essentially unchanging.
This might make this idea our winner, as the land value in the whole of the US must be insane. How much would we need to tax our real estate to make up for getting rid of income taxes?
This idea helps those who don't own much but are willing to work. I like it.