Snakeeyes ... In Pa., it is estimated about $10 mill per year is "skimmed" from sales tax ... pretty minor. BUT ... to answer your question, The easiest way is to have severe penalties for tax cheats. For retail establishments, for example, computerized cash registers. Plus ... with such a preponderence of credit card and check spending, and very little cash, tracking is not difficult.

As for Texas not having an income tax ... it is a thriving state without one ... think about it ..

We have a higher SALES TAX than most. 6.25%

Bray ... New York has an income tax that tops out at 11 % AND a 7 to 8 % sales tax, depending on county.

Hmmmmmm ... Which State is going places ? Adding companies ? New York ? or Texas ?

Oh ... and Pennsylvania has a 6% sales tax AND a 2.9% flat income tax.

Nah, he's not an idiot. Just a very dangerous liar.

littleb ... I am not sure to whom you are referring ?

NH has no income tax AND no sales tax. Property taxes are higher than the average, but NH is still consistantly rated as one of, if not THE lowest-taxed states. And we're doing just fine!

Craig, I was standing up for Mr. Bush, on the one hand, and I'm afraid denegrating him at the same time. I don't believe he is an idiot, as many people have said. I do believe he is astute at managing situations, but I also believe he went too far in Iraq. In my opinion, his management abilities weren't getting the results he had hoped for when he started this Iraq thing, so he made some things up, with disastrous results, so far. The elections in Iraq may bring about a more just society in the Persian Gulf or it might blow up in everyone's face. I always get the feeling that this President would rather try to fool the public rather than tell the truth, and to me that makes him dangerous.

littleb ... I could post literally 100's of pages from Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, George Tenet, John Kerry, Bob Dole, Al Gore, Joseph Lieberman ... etc... in which they said the IDENTICAL things about Iraq that George W. Bush said.

Were they all lying, too ?

Craig,

I don't know the answer to that question. I truly wish I did. We all know that something went terribly wrong in the top wrungs of our government. It has been blamed on bad intelligence. Let's just say I'm cautiously suspicious. It's apparent to me that someone in our government just plain lied. The President is the head of that government and should be held accountable. It doesn't appear that is going to happen anytime soon, so it is really a mute point.

littleb ... A wealth of information is available to anyone who wants to read it. The simple fact is that intelligence agencies from around the world ALL said Iraq had WMD's. We know for certain the Hussein did use WMD's agains both Iran and his own Kurdish population.

But, if you have decided ONE man deserves scrutiny while everyone else gets a free pass ... that is your perofative in a free society.