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What's special about Bangladesh when defining "fair"? Do you mean it as a proxy for somewhere with no significant government benefits or services? And since Ba
by twoodfin 11y ago
What's special about Bangladesh when defining "fair"? Do you mean it as a proxy for somewhere with no significant government benefits or services?
And since Bangladesh's median per capita income is something like $600, it implies that tax rates capturing all but $600 of the median U.S. worker's $51,000 would be "morally fair". 98.8% effective rates!
I don't think a definition so constructed has any significant value.
- rayiner 11y agoI use Bangladesh as an example because my family is from there--I can easily estimate the difference between what I make having grown up a citizen of the U.S. versus what my similarly-situated cousins make. But more generally, it's an example of a country that provides internal security, but not much beyond that. It you're starting a business in Bangladesh, you can't take advantage of governmental and social capital: educated workers, wealthy customers, research institutions, etc. The morally fair tax rate is more like 85%--the median U.S. individual income is around $30,000, while the median PPP-adjusted Bangladeshi income is $3,300. But yeah, that's absolutely fair. Just the simple fact of being born in the United States, keeping everything else equal, gives you a huge advantage in wealth.