Sales tax is more regressive than income tax, meaning that the poor pay a higher percent of their income than the rich.. . Suppose that you and Bill Gates spend about the same amount of money per year on toilet paper and paper towels and dish soap.. . Say that it's $200 dollars per year.. . That's a much bigger percent of your annual income than it is Bill's.. . In effect, you're paying a higher tax rate than he is.. . If most of your money is spent on necessities, and you're barely making it, sales tax means a big proportion of your income is going to taxes, and you can no longer afford your basic living expenses.. . It hurts the poor. It's the difference between eating every day of the month, and eating 22 days every month.. . Income tax is progressive, that is, people with less income pay a smaller percent in tax than people with more income (in theory -- what we have now is pretty regressive, since the very rich don't have to pay much income tax on the money they make each year; they put it into tax shelters, so the income they pay tax on is much less than their actual income).. . What would be better would be for the rich to have to pay a reasonable amount, and for them to no longer be given money by the government (more money is given to the rich than to the poor in welfare programs) -- that would go further to cutting the deficit, and would be fairer to both the poor and the middle class who pay a huge hunk of their money in taxes.. . It isn't fair to the poor to raise the price of everything they buy; they aren't making it as it is.. . I agree that legalizing drugs would better solve the problem you have -- income made from selling drugs would be taxable (actually it IS taxable now, in theory).