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human
So I have a theory, but I don’t know if it would actually work…

While studying Econ, and learning about the increasing economic inequality in the US as well as the massively growing gap between classes, I have always heard the same argument on how to combat it: tax the rich.

Now, I understand the sentiment and why that would seem like it would be a good idea. If you can afford to buy a third home in Nantucket,  you should be able contribute more than John down the street who lives off of raw ramen noodles and spare change. But, in practice there is no way to guarantee all of the upperclass pays their “fair share” so to speak. Whether it is through net loss re-works in your books, or foreign bank accounts, or tax havens, there will always be a way for a tax-savy accountant to find a loop hole for the wealthy when it comes to income taxes. 

Whenever we increase income taxes, intending on getting more from the higher groups, it is always the middle class that pays the most and we repeat this cycle over and over and over again.

So, now for my theory. What if we got rid of the income tax all together? Instead, we switch over to a purely sales based program? There would be a flat 10-15% tax on everything anyone purchases (exempting things like food, and utilities.) There’s no loopholes to skirt through, no accountant to pay off, just a simple: if you buy more you pay more. 

There would be no way around it, and we wouldn’t be suffocating the lower classes with high tax rates.

Is this a stupid idea? Or am I onto something here. Let me know if I’m being naive or missing the whole point here.
gpt
Sales taxes tend to be regressive (takes proportionally more from the people with the least to start with) because people with lower income spend a lot higher percentage of their money just to live. A middle class or poor person can spend 100% (or more) of their income while a wealthy person might spend, for example, 5% of their income just to stay alive.

The other thing is, part of taxes is about incentives. Without an income tax, you have to lean a lot more on this new, big sales tax. How badly do you really want to disincentivize people from spending? Do you really want to apply friction to every act of money changing hands? Not to mention the gigantic amount of bookkeeping it would introduce, and the incentive to take markets underground.