It's very practical. It's called sales tax. Gasoline sales taxes are supposed to be used to maintain roads.
In general, taxing income and profit is difficult to do fairly. It requires a really complex and invasive bureaucracy that scrutinizes everyone and every business. Sales tax, on the other hand, is easy to do fairly. You already have to regulate sales to enforce anti-fraud laws, food and drug laws, and other regulations.
People often say that sales tax is regressive, whereas income tax is progressive. But in practice, income tax is regressive, really falling only on the middle class. For example, multi-billionaire Warren Buffet pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secreta...
In general, taxing income and profit is difficult to do fairly. It requires a really complex and invasive bureaucracy that scrutinizes everyone and every business. Sales tax, on the other hand, is easy to do fairly. You already have to regulate sales to enforce anti-fraud laws, food and drug laws, and other regulations.
People often say that sales tax is regressive, whereas income tax is progressive. But in practice, income tax is regressive, really falling only on the middle class. For example, multi-billionaire Warren Buffet pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secreta...