Let's End Black Friday Craze With 6-6-6 Plan

Writer suggests special tax for goods bought during the madness
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 24, 2011 12:51 PM CST
Let's End Black Friday Craze With 6-6-6 Plan
People shop at the Century City mall in Los Angeles.   (Getty Images)

Like a lot of people, economics professor Robert H. Frank hates that Black Friday is now creeping into Thanksgiving Day itself. Unlike most, he's got a suggestion to stop the madness. With apologies to Herman Cain, he proposes a 6-6-6 plan: a 6% national sales tax on stuff bought between 6pm on Thanksgiving and 6am on Black Friday. It would be on top of already existing local and state taxes, he writes in the New York Times.

"This plan would leave both stores and consumers free to decide for themselves whether middle-of-the-night shopping is worth it," he writes. "Best of all, it would encourage Americans to spend Thanksgiving night where they really want to—in bed." (More Black Friday stories.)

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