Such a regressive tax to get behind.

Now if tariffs had only been applied to, I don't know, yachts, private jets…

From 1991-1993 there was a luxury tax on yachts, private jets...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxury_tax#United_States

Rich people consume a lot more, so a consumption tax would be ideal if you eased other tax categories like income tax and/or capital gains. It's easy to administer and would boost investment across the economy IMO.

"Rich people consume a lot more…"

Working class often live paycheck to paycheck. Unless rich are also living paycheck to paycheck I'm not sure I the two really compare.

That's of course the idea behind a progressive tax: it scales to what an individual "can afford".

I wouldn't ease any taxes - we simply can't afford lower taxes. Debt is nearly $40T (125% of GDP)!

Well, government spending could go down along with that too. Obviously, that ain't happening with Republicans (see: the OBBB and failed DOGE project) but in theory you could do major reform and craft coherent policy while not triple dipping tax-wise. I think you could implement quite a high consumption tax model and be okay -- you'd have the added benefit of very simple collection and enforcement since it's all at the tail end.

I'd go for a more progressive tax if it was on offer. But there is so much debt that I'm pretty worried that taxes are simply unsustainably low.