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You're asking how people would feel if they were forced into high-tax and low-tax test groups.. But suppose people are given a choice opt-in to a tax lottery sy
by bhousel 16y ago
You're asking how people would feel if they were forced into high-tax and low-tax test groups.. But suppose people are given a choice opt-in to a tax lottery system, such that instead of paying a fixed rate the taxpayer would have a random chance of paying either a higher or lower rate.
As initially reprehensible as this sounds to me, the government could make quite a bit of money by taking clues from the gaming industry. Gamification of the tax system?
- DavidSJ 16y agoPerhaps it should be required that the net income from this lottery be 0.
- bhousel 16y agoThat would be nice, but then you're not doing an experiment.
- adrianN 16y agoWhy not? You can still observe how people behave differently if they have higher or lower taxes.
- bhousel 16y agoI guess that's true. But what I meant to say was that in order to arrange for the results to net a zero difference from what the government would collect normally, you're not really randomly assigning tax rates or running a lottery, you're just fixing people's rates at something other than what they would normally be. Something about manipulating the conditions of the experiment (even a stupid thought experiment) to force a desired outcome doesn't sit right with me.
- ars 16y agoHe means the higher and lower taxes would cancel themself out. Not that the people in it earn nothing.
- gintas 16y agoIf the experiment is opt-in, there will surely be a bias in the sample population. In this case, the strategy will select risk-seeking individuals, because risk-averse ones will not want to participate.