Taxes, Taxes, we all love Taxes

I was discussing politics with a good friend the other day and he made a suggestion that sounded reasonable at the time, and has since grown on me quite a bit. He suggested that we, as a country, abolish income taxes and raise sales taxes appropriately to cover for the loss. My friend suggested this because it would prevent illegal immigrants and devious employees from avoiding taxes by being paid under the table. I believe that illegal immigration is wrong, and that the rights of citizenship are reserved for those who have gone through the legal processes to deserve them by becoming a nationalized citizen. Even more fundamentally, I believe in the law, and I beleive that those who willfully break the law exclude themselves from the protections it can provide. But I digress...

I like the idea of raising sales taxes (while getting rid of income taxes) because it would probably incite a lot of people to spend their money less frivolously and would promote a degree of self-dependence. Some people would become more industrious, e.g. planting gardens instead of buying all their vegetables at Albertson's.

I realize, however, that there are all kinds of economic issues that would have to be worked out, as well as regulation issues regarding the ability of the government to change taxes on a whim. I am not an economist, nor do I claim that this possibility would solve all of our country's economic woes. However, I think its an idea worth kicking around. I also realize that we're living in an era where sweeping changes such as this simply don't happen, especially in the "corporatocracy" that controls the government. But it can't hurt to think and to suggest, right?