On Thu, 7 Nov 2002 DoreneFC at aol.com wrote:
> WA is is some ways a paradoxical state. We have relatively generous
> welfare, Medicaid and unemployment programs and we have one of the most
> regressive tax structures in the country.
I think longtime listmember Max Sawicky argues in a paper that there is no paradox here, and that although it strikes us Americans as odd, some of the most progressive states in Europe are structured like this. They collect most of their taxes through VAT, and do all their restributing through government programs. He argues that so long as enough is redistributed, it can easily overcome the regressiveness and more. And that the good side about sales taxes is that people bitch and cheat on them less (which would be even more true if they were national, and thus inescapable). As well as the theoretical virtues they are supposed to have in the eyes of mainstream economic theory.
(If I have misrepresented your position in any way Max, I apologize.)
Michael