Reflections on Chapter 12: Designing the Tax System

I was rather pleased to see how the tax burden was distributed in Table 8 from the text, The Burden of Federal Taxes. It looks pretty equitable to me, except that I would like see the top 1% paying more. So I do favor progressive taxes. I'm suspicious of the consumption tax instead of the income tax. First of all, since wealthy people usually spend less of their income than do the poor, a consumption tax would affect the lower class more than the upper class. Secondly, I wonder, wouldn't a consumption tax discourage people from spending and thereby slowing the economy?

I believe that equity and fairness are very important to the tax system. We would all like to see the tax codes become less complex so they were easier to process and understand. However, I understand that they are so complicated because people who knew much more than I are trying make the system more equitable. Or at least I hope that's what they're doing.