3 ms·

> it would probably have worse wealth distribution than the US since it still has lower mobility and maybe even worse than some emerging and developing markets.

by jcbrand 10y ago

> it would probably have worse wealth distribution than the US since it still has lower mobility and maybe even worse than some emerging and developing markets. But higher taxes for the rich and more redistributive social policies. So I'm not convinced.

dogma1138 10y ago
You should read are bit more about this these 2 are a good start. https://mises.org/blog/poor-us-are-richer-middle-class-much-europe https://mises.org/blog/poor-us-are-richer-middle-class-much-... http://www.institutmolinari.org/IMG/pdf/tax-burden-eu-2015.pdf http://www.institutmolinari.org/IMG/pdf/tax-burden-eu-2015.p... Taxes are higher but not for the rich, the majority of the tax burden in Europe falls on employers ("payroll" style tax) and on the middle class. The US has one of the highest capital gains and corporate tax rates in the developed world and higher than pretty much every country in Europe. When you add all the indirect and direct taxes on EU workers you get a pretty much horrible system where the majority of the poor in the US have a similar or higher purchasing power than what the median salary workers see in the EU after taxes. Accumulating wealth in the EU is considerably harder because of just how harshly you are taxed the joke about being paid half and have double the tax is kinda silly but it's kinda true even in tech. Yes many EU countries do offer things like healthcare and education for free but it's far from free and I'm not sure if locking their middle class into a loop that prevents it from accumulating wealth is really worth it. Also since employing individuals in the EU is so expensive especially compared to the US you get to the point where recovering from any economic crises is much harder and leaves the workers at a considerable disadvantage to both being replaced by automation and poached by high paying countries and emerging economies. When you get to the point where your tax income is half your GDP I think you are doing something seriously wrong as you are playing a nearly zero sum game because overall your citizens are not gaining much wealth and you are just shoveling it from one pocket into the other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_revenue_as_percentage_of_GDP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_reven... And worse when most of that tax burden falls on the individuals through VAT and social insurance and income taxes, while capital gains taxes are just a rounding error http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/0/01/Breakdown_of_tax_revenue_by_country_and_by_main_tax_categories%28percentage_of_GDP%29_2014.PNG http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/0/0...

by jcbrand 10y ago

dogma1138 10y ago

You should read are bit more about this these 2 are a good start. https://mises.org/blog/poor-us-are-richer-middle-class-much-europe https://mises.org/blog/poor-us-are-richer-middle-class-much-... http://www.institutmolinari.org/IMG/pdf/tax-burden-eu-2015.pdf http://www.institutmolinari.org/IMG/pdf/tax-burden-eu-2015.p... Taxes are higher but not for the rich, the majority of the tax burden in Europe falls on employers ("payroll" style tax) and on the middle class. The US has one of the highest capital gains and corporate tax rates in the developed world and higher than pretty much every country in Europe. When you add all the indirect and direct taxes on EU workers you get a pretty much horrible system where the majority of the poor in the US have a similar or higher purchasing power than what the median salary workers see in the EU after taxes. Accumulating wealth in the EU is considerably harder because of just how harshly you are taxed the joke about being paid half and have double the tax is kinda silly but it's kinda true even in tech. Yes many EU countries do offer things like healthcare and education for free but it's far from free and I'm not sure if locking their middle class into a loop that prevents it from accumulating wealth is really worth it. Also since employing individuals in the EU is so expensive especially compared to the US you get to the point where recovering from any economic crises is much harder and leaves the workers at a considerable disadvantage to both being replaced by automation and poached by high paying countries and emerging economies. When you get to the point where your tax income is half your GDP I think you are doing something seriously wrong as you are playing a nearly zero sum game because overall your citizens are not gaining much wealth and you are just shoveling it from one pocket into the other. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_revenue_as_percentage_of_GDP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_reven... And worse when most of that tax burden falls on the individuals through VAT and social insurance and income taxes, while capital gains taxes are just a rounding error http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/0/01/Breakdown_of_tax_revenue_by_country_and_by_main_tax_categories%28percentage_of_GDP%29_2014.PNG http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/images/0/0...