9 ms·
>My taxes are already pushing oppressive. Raise them further, and I'll seriously consider "going Galt" Under UBI that would be your prerogative. Most highly pr
by billmalarky 9y ago
>My taxes are already pushing oppressive. Raise them further, and I'll seriously consider "going Galt"
Under UBI that would be your prerogative. Most highly productive individuals and all corporations will carry on producing.
>You're subsidizing the unproductive, and punishing the productive.
You may have moral qualms with a UBI system. You will need to come to terms with these doubts in the midterm future, as UBI will be the only system (we currently know of) capable of sustaining a market economy in a world where automation has displaced the workforce.
- ctdonath 9y agoThe same "displace the workforce" arguments abounded during the Industrial Revolution. Most everyone is still employed (biggest impediment isn't lack of jobs per se, it's oppressive regulation making employment of low-productivity people untenable).
- ctdonath 9y agoThere does indeed come a point where taxation reaches high enough levels that people (and groups of them a la corporations) lose interest in exerting greater effort. The popular actor Ronald Regan famously noted that he would have produced far more movies, but it just wasn't worth it under the confiscatory tax rates. Most of the time, people will indeed continue producing without such drastic obviousness - but there WILL be a tapering off of productivity, and history makes that clear to those willing to see the objective facts.
- plusECON 9y ago:thinking_face: maybe we need a reverse-graduated income tax i.e. you are taxed less the more productive you become. Then the most productive are super encouraged!? There's definitely some unintended consequences in there... but it might be the start of an idea.