What items are taxed but should not be, and what are not but should be?

Taxed but shouldn’t be-disability and uemployment benefits. Untaxed but should be-offshore profits

Groceries should have zero tax.
Primary residence should have zero tax
Income should have zero tax
Healthcare should have zero tax

Everything else is fair game.

By th way this is what led to the OP.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Debate+over+removing+federal+tampons+heads+House+Commons/11040475/story.html

@stanleybmanly that makes sense.
@ARE_you_kidding_me But in groceries some of the “groceries” are really not necesity items

How about the clothing items that are strictly fashion related, not at all necessity

@flo Food and cleaning items

Groceries shouldn’t be and they aren’t in about half of the states in the US.

Cars should not have a property tax, but some states tax cars as property every year like the home you own.

Social Security and unemployment should not be taxed.

Inheritance should be taxed over $2 million.

Capital gains should be taxed at a higher rate than it is now, possibly at the person’s income rate. It’s a little more complicatedvthan that though.

Churches should pay a flat, small amount of tax.

Tampons should be free! Lol. Definitely not taxed. They should be a tax deduction. At minimum we should be able to buy the, with tax free money on HSA accounts. They are a medical device.

What I “need” shouldn’t be taxed; what you frivolously waste money on should be taxed.

^ What @janbb said. Sales taxes overall are regressive. I support extremely-progressive taxation through income tax (the percentage you pay in taxes increases at higher income).

I’ll also add that here in New England we have regressive taxes in the form of highway tolls. I pay the same amount as a minimum wage earner does to drive on a “public” road. Tolls are not ok.

@janbb Do we need clothing? Ferragamo shoes and Canali suits? NYC clothing tax is zero up until $110 (I think) and then 4% thereafter. That sounds good to me.

Thomas Piketty’s outstanding analysis in Capital_in_the_Twenty_First_Century indicates that not only income but wealth must be progressively taxed in order to avoid accumulation of all wealth in the hands of an oligarchy.

In some places they tax brocolli etc. that is terrible.

@ARE_you_kidding_me I mean there is healthy food and there is junk food. And there is the most basic cleaning products and there are mostly affordable by the wealthy.

@JLeslie “Groceries shouldn’t be and they aren’t in about half of the states in the US.”
Does that include even the healthy food, or did I wrongly assume it (above)?

“Cars should not have a property tax, but some states tax cars as property every year like the home you own.”
Why? How do they rationalize that?

Tax should not be taxed.

@flo Cars are property, that’s how they rationalize it.

Yes, even the healthy foods are taxed in many states. Healthy, basic staples, everything.

Let’s tax PACs. Heavily.

@JLeslie “Cars are property, that’s how they rationalize it.”

The government paves roads, maintains them, provides the water etc. every year, for the homes etc. That makes sense if they tax homes every year. The same thing doesn’t go for the car. Actually they prefer that people get rid of their car and use public transit as much as possible.

I assume the car tax is used for roads, bridges, and other transportation related things. Maybe even to help fund public transportation.

I wasn’t thinking.