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Wow, really makes me think about Milton Friedman's discussions on the many unconventional and unstated ways a government can effectively tax its people through

Wow, really makes me think about Milton Friedman's discussions on the many unconventional and unstated ways a government can effectively tax its people through a cost that is not directly labeled as a tax. Wish I had a quote handy but there should be something along these lines in his "Myths That Conceal Reality" talk https://youtu.be/xNc-xhH8kkk https://youtu.be/xNc-xhH8kkk

kolpa 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seigniorage#Seigniorage_as_a_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seigniorage#Seigniorage_as_a_t...
jxramos 9y ago
Curiosity got the best of me, and I had some help searching the new YouTube transcripts feature which I copy to a text editor and do the searching there.... """The American people have been telling Congress for many years, "Spend more money on us, please," but they have been telling Congress, "Don't raise our taxes." Congress has been listening. It's been spending more money on you, but on the other hand it's been very unwilling to raise taxes. As a result, it has imposed inflation as a tax. That's one tax that you don't have to vote for but you have to pay.""" https://youtu.be/xNc-xhH8kkk?t=1428 https://youtu.be/xNc-xhH8kkk?t=1428 """Well again- with respect to money, can you print money at no cost? It's very cheap to turn out those pieces of paper, but does that get society something for nothing? Not at all, it's simply a different form of taxation. If you print money, people have more money to spend. If they spend more money on the same amount of goods, prices go up, and in effect, everybody is paying a tax through inflation. Once again, it is only a form of taxation."""
- vkou 9y ago
  Keep in mind that inflation is not just a form of taxation. It is also a form of debt forgiveness. It sucks if you have liquid cash, and you are facing inflation. It's great if you are in debt. Many Americans have a lot more debt then cash.
  - etatoby 9y ago
    > It sucks if you have cash This should explain why governments in America and the EU are under pressure by strong interest groups to avoid inflation at all costs, even though it would help the common people who are in debt and possibly the economy as a whole.
  - marcosdumay 9y ago
    > It's great if you are in debt. Things are more complicated than this. As the country acquires a history of inflation, all the debits become more expensive. Things get worse the longer and the more intense that history becomes. Japan is spending some trust capital for forgiving their poorest people's debit. Once it is gone, they will have to pay "interest" on the lack of trust, and guess what parcel of the population pays for most of that "interest"? Besides, most of the benefits from a high inflation don't go into that "debit pardoning" effect. They don't go into the government as a hidden tax either. At the same time, all the costs go into people that have to carry some non interest-paying money, that is, poor people and small business.
    - vkou 9y ago
      Poor people don't have any money to be inflated away. Half of America doesn't have three months of wages in their savings account. Small businesses aren't exactly sitting on piles of cash either. They own or lease assets, and are often net debtors. The reason small businesses arent doing great at the moment is due to economies of scale, and cost of land - not the loose fiscal policy.

kolpa 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seigniorage#Seigniorage_as_a_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seigniorage#Seigniorage_as_a_t...

jxramos 9y ago

Curiosity got the best of me, and I had some help searching the new YouTube transcripts feature which I copy to a text editor and do the searching there.... """The American people have been telling Congress for many years, "Spend more money on us, please," but they have been telling Congress, "Don't raise our taxes." Congress has been listening. It's been spending more money on you, but on the other hand it's been very unwilling to raise taxes. As a result, it has imposed inflation as a tax. That's one tax that you don't have to vote for but you have to pay.""" https://youtu.be/xNc-xhH8kkk?t=1428 https://youtu.be/xNc-xhH8kkk?t=1428 """Well again- with respect to money, can you print money at no cost? It's very cheap to turn out those pieces of paper, but does that get society something for nothing? Not at all, it's simply a different form of taxation. If you print money, people have more money to spend. If they spend more money on the same amount of goods, prices go up, and in effect, everybody is paying a tax through inflation. Once again, it is only a form of taxation."""

vkou 9y ago
Keep in mind that inflation is not just a form of taxation. It is also a form of debt forgiveness. It sucks if you have liquid cash, and you are facing inflation. It's great if you are in debt. Many Americans have a lot more debt then cash.
- etatoby 9y ago
  > It sucks if you have cash This should explain why governments in America and the EU are under pressure by strong interest groups to avoid inflation at all costs, even though it would help the common people who are in debt and possibly the economy as a whole.
- marcosdumay 9y ago
  > It's great if you are in debt. Things are more complicated than this. As the country acquires a history of inflation, all the debits become more expensive. Things get worse the longer and the more intense that history becomes. Japan is spending some trust capital for forgiving their poorest people's debit. Once it is gone, they will have to pay "interest" on the lack of trust, and guess what parcel of the population pays for most of that "interest"? Besides, most of the benefits from a high inflation don't go into that "debit pardoning" effect. They don't go into the government as a hidden tax either. At the same time, all the costs go into people that have to carry some non interest-paying money, that is, poor people and small business.
  - vkou 9y ago
    Poor people don't have any money to be inflated away. Half of America doesn't have three months of wages in their savings account. Small businesses aren't exactly sitting on piles of cash either. They own or lease assets, and are often net debtors. The reason small businesses arent doing great at the moment is due to economies of scale, and cost of land - not the loose fiscal policy.