# Taxes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 15, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxes/168869 "2003-04-15T13:29:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxes/168869/21 "2003-04-19T22:08:12Z")
I think it’d be great to sell off all the Federal land. Yellowstone National Park, and all them other national parks, for instance, would be bought up in a minute by the oil companies and mining companies for a pretty penny. The White House, too, is prime property, and that big stretch of land around the Washington Monument would go for a fortune to developers who want to put up condominiums. And Arlington National Cemetary could be paved over for a shopping center, and we’d get millions for it. Mount Rushmore, man, they’d sell that to advertising firms – who would pay millions for the opportunity to put neon advertisements on George Washington’s forehead. And to carve a huge Coca-Cola can on the empty space near Teddy Roosevelt. What a great idea! ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxes/168869/22 "2003-04-19T23:28:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \* > **And Arlington National Cemetary could be paved over for a shopping center, and we’d get millions for it.** Although the shopping center developers might get out-bid by the Lee family or the Virginia Historical Society or some such, who’d want to put General Lee’s house back where it originally stood. ---
**Author:** ![Severian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Severian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Severian)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxes/168869/23 "2003-04-20T01:16:01Z")
Excise tax vs. income tax; what’s the difference? Unless government spending is reduced we, as a population, will still have to pay the same amount. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxes/168869/24 "2003-04-20T01:23:48Z")
**Severian:** The difference is that rich people spend a much smaller fraction of their income buying the kinds of things that could be subjected to excise (or sales) tax than poor people do. The population as a **whole** would have to pay the same amount, but **which** members of the population would be shouldering the bulk of the burden would shift dramatically. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taxes/168869.md?page=1)