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I agree with this to some extent. As much as I consider myself a 'small l' libertarian, is a society in which taxes could be evaded so freely on such a large s

by giobox 9y ago

I agree with this to some extent. As much as I consider myself a 'small l' libertarian, is a society in which taxes could be evaded so freely on such a large scale really desirable? We already struggle with this problem enough with 'traditional' financial tools. It's certainly worth thinking about.

pdelbarba 9y ago
I don't fully understand the article... How is this different from the days when everyone just used cash? On a side note, I don't really understand how bitcoin is somehow this new anonymous wealth hiding scheme. I can lookup any given wallet that's participated in a transaction (everything is public), so what stops me from de-anonymizing people? Lets say in the future everyone pays with bitcoin online and I'm working for the feds screening packages for UPS. I just saw a few amazon shipments come through for somebody's home address, one with a specific computer, one with a box of pens, and one with a pair of shoes. Go back, look up the item prices and then cross reference with transactions that took place in that time period. Yea, you can use multiple wallets and addresses but at some point, there'll be enough public domain information to track you down, especially with current advances in ML.
- Mendenhall 9y ago
  I would say much of the negativity is because certain very large institutions have a huge incentive to not want bitcoin to "succeed" and would paint it in a negative light any way they could.
AnthonyMouse 9y ago
> is a society in which taxes could be evaded so freely on such a large scale really desirable? Tax evasion has been and always will be an issue of popular morals. All you need for evasion is a medium of exchange (or barter) and for both sides not to report the transaction. Collecting taxes is trivial when either (or both) of the parties to a transaction report it and impossible if they don't. So the only way taxes can work is for most people to be convinced that the taxes are reasonable and what they pay for is justified. If most people are not convinced then they'll lie for each other and the government is screwed; see Italy. Central banks can't save you from that, only your own citizens can. And the laws against money laundering have nothing to do with tax evasion by the common man and everything to do with the war on drugs. Putting a stop to that train wreck would only help everybody.
aaron_m04 9y ago
Maybe this is a sign we should switch away from income tax to use, for example, a land value tax. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax
michaelmrose 9y ago
Couldn't we just primarily tax income which entities are obligated to report to the government?

by giobox 9y ago

pdelbarba 9y ago

I don't fully understand the article... How is this different from the days when everyone just used cash? On a side note, I don't really understand how bitcoin is somehow this new anonymous wealth hiding scheme. I can lookup any given wallet that's participated in a transaction (everything is public), so what stops me from de-anonymizing people? Lets say in the future everyone pays with bitcoin online and I'm working for the feds screening packages for UPS. I just saw a few amazon shipments come through for somebody's home address, one with a specific computer, one with a box of pens, and one with a pair of shoes. Go back, look up the item prices and then cross reference with transactions that took place in that time period. Yea, you can use multiple wallets and addresses but at some point, there'll be enough public domain information to track you down, especially with current advances in ML.

Mendenhall 9y ago
I would say much of the negativity is because certain very large institutions have a huge incentive to not want bitcoin to "succeed" and would paint it in a negative light any way they could.

AnthonyMouse 9y ago

> is a society in which taxes could be evaded so freely on such a large scale really desirable? Tax evasion has been and always will be an issue of popular morals. All you need for evasion is a medium of exchange (or barter) and for both sides not to report the transaction. Collecting taxes is trivial when either (or both) of the parties to a transaction report it and impossible if they don't. So the only way taxes can work is for most people to be convinced that the taxes are reasonable and what they pay for is justified. If most people are not convinced then they'll lie for each other and the government is screwed; see Italy. Central banks can't save you from that, only your own citizens can. And the laws against money laundering have nothing to do with tax evasion by the common man and everything to do with the war on drugs. Putting a stop to that train wreck would only help everybody.

aaron_m04 9y ago

Maybe this is a sign we should switch away from income tax to use, for example, a land value tax. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax

michaelmrose 9y ago

Couldn't we just primarily tax income which entities are obligated to report to the government?