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US had no income tax until 1913- that's what made the Golden Age of America possible, and created the foundation for its 20th century wealth. In a similar fashi
by cft 8y ago
US had no income tax until 1913- that's what made the Golden Age of America possible, and created the foundation for its 20th century wealth. In a similar fashion, China is benefiting from the low tax burden, getting ahead of the rest of the world.
- qwerty456127 8y agoWhy not do this today in the USA or anywhere?
- cft 8y agoBecause you got downvoted for merely asking the question.
- skrealing 8y agoMany countries do this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates My impression is that income tax is less damaging to investment than than corporate taxes and capital gains taxes, while also being less regressive than a sales tax or VAT.
- Kaveren 8y agoWhy was pre-1913 the "Golden Age of America"? The US did very well for itself post-WWII, and we're in a pretty good place today.
- cft 8y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilded_Age
- mturmon 8y agoThis term is meant in the opposite sense to what you seem to be implying in your prior comment. The clue is right there in the name: “gilded” does not mean golden, in the sense of being made of gold.
- smadge 8y agoExactly, for those who missed it, gilded means coated with a thin layer of gold over a much cheaper element beneath: extravagant wealth for a few at the top distracting from the poverty below.
- zorga 8y agoThat's not a golden age, that's a bad era of American history where industries were corrupt and dominated by monopolies, our best times were post WWII when our incomes taxes were the highest ever, that's what created the middle class and the American dream.
- Yetanfou 8y agoI'd say that the outcome of WWII which saw the US emerge as the prime world power, the availability of cheap and plentiful oil, the economic potential of a mostly unscathed country helping to rebuild a world ravaged by war and the spin-off effect from the cold war (which boosted technical development at a war-time speed in a peace-time economy) had more to do with the realisation of the American Dream than the high levels of taxation.
- zorga 8y agoIt took both, the above is why there were jobs; the taxation is why those jobs paid well rather than all that money going to just those at the top as it does today. High marginal taxes are a huge incentive to pay your workers better rather than just your executives.
- TangoTrotFox 8y agoYour argument fails to the same issue as the one you're responding to. There are countless countries with both extremely high and extremely low tax rates, but here seems to be little connection in general to economic/social development based on tax levels. I think it all has to do with something very simple: opportunity + nationalism. Post WW2 US was basically a land of endless opportunity spurred on by great nationalism. The reason nationalism is important is because it helps align motivations beyond just profit. Now a days most large corporations wouldn't think twice about firing all their domestic workers if they could profitably replace them with cheaper workers in another country. This is ostensibly good for the corporation, but not so great for the country, and worst of all for the workers left behind. Aside from that social bond there is also a practical commercial one. When individuals in a nation strongly bias towards domestic products, this incentivizes domestic production. E.g. - 'Made in the USA' was a major selling point. But most importantly, I think you'll find this pattern of opportunity + nationalism is something that maps pretty well to national success in general. The US in its boom times, China today, the rebuilding of South Korea, Japan, etc.. What triggers the eventual decline there though is something far more difficult to answer. E.g. the US and South Korea continue to grow, while Japan ended up facing (and continuing to face) decades of stagnation.
- isostatic 8y agoA thin shiny layer on top of a foundation of crap?
- cthalupa 8y agoGolden means made of gold. Gilded means covered in a thin layer. And it's right there in the second sentence in your link. The name was pejorative, not positive.
- xmly 8y agoIs not US just getting great after new president? Just kidding...
- badpun 8y agoPlenty of countries had no income tax in that era, which shows that that was not a defining factor for US success back then.
- sonnyblarney 8y agoWell, there was also post-slavery forms of indentured servitude, no labour laws (i.e. shoot strikers), no worker protections, no social security, barely such a thing as healthcare. And no pesky female or non-landed male voters ... So if you're in the capital class, it must have been a 'golden time', yes!
- rataata_jr 8y agoIn terms of economy it still holds.