Well, Brazil is doing pretty well. My point was not to prove a general theory by isolated example - simply to provide a counterpoint. I think it's more fruitf

Well, Brazil is doing pretty well. My point was not to prove a general theory by isolated example - simply to provide a counterpoint. I think it's more fruitful to compare the economic/moral philosophies of these systems than to compare examples of them. Primarily because no isolated example is a paragon of its stated parent philosophy and (more practically) because a Marxist country doesn't exist and a capitalist country doesn't exist to compare. And I'm genuinely curious how you separate tax policy debate from whether taxes are good. I don't think any socioeconomic system says all taxes are bad, but they do differ on what it is moral to tax for.