Combining the two produces a varying-rate tax that places more burden on the rich. In this way it behaves like an income tax, but it is a tax on consumption, not income, and because it is collected by retailers it is much easier to enforce and requires no paperwork by individuals. I feel that tax collection anywhere in the world incurs an unacceptable amount of overhead cost. Part of the cost is in the bureaucratic structures required to perform the mechanics and enforce the rules, but the majority is incurred by people learning the rules, keeping records, doing calculations, and making efforts to minimise their taxes. Taxation is responsible for a vast industry of clerks, accountants, consultants, lawyers, lobbyists and others who collectively accomplish nothing but the movement of money between the citizens and the government.
Corporate taxes represent an intricate web of invisible taxes built into the prices of products.
We never really know how much tax we pay, because there is no way to calculate how much of an item's price goes into corporate taxes, nor into the cost of the associated accounting, litigating, and tax avoidance efforts. Legislators spend a lot of time debating and refining tax law. They also create special exemptions for their patrons, which encourages inequity and corruption. It makes it possible for people to know how much tax they pay. You can give a rating to this scheme overall.