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The problem is that you either incentivize higher economic volume or you get deflation. They tried printing money and giving it to the banks to loan because the
by bsanr2 7y ago
The problem is that you either incentivize higher economic volume or you get deflation. They tried printing money and giving it to the banks to loan because they're afraid to do the one rational thing there is and, in doing so, piss off the wealthy. But now that it seems that we're going to see instability and unrest no matter what, it's time to play that card, and hopefully shorten our inevitable economic Dark Age:
Wealth tax.
- DuskStar 7y ago> Wealth tax. HAHAHAHAHA If anything, a wealth tax is what turns things from "depression" to "catastrophic failure" - capital flight would be a massive problem. And even ignoring any effects from changing incentives, why would taking from the most productive and giving to the government improve the economy?
- toomuchtodo 7y agoAdam Neumann (WeWork) coaxed billions of dollars out of Softbank for nothing of value in return. I would not consider that productive. Having wealth does not immediately confirm the activity that allowed for that wealth was productive, nor that one is productive for having amassed wealth.
- DuskStar 7y agoEhhh, fleecing the Saudis is arguably productive. But yes, there are certainly wealthy people who are not more productive than an S&P 500 index fund. (this might still be more productive than the US government, of course) But how do you propose to tax them and not the Bezos' and Musks of the world?
- toomuchtodo 7y agoBezos and Musk reinvested all of their wealth into their own endeavors. Craft policy to support such efforts. You still tax productive activities, just not as much as unproductive activities (such as mega-yachts or sailing teams, which are luxury goods).
- DuskStar 7y agoSounds like you want a consumption tax, and not a wealth tax then?
- toomuchtodo 7y agoA little of both.
- DuskStar 7y agoOk, so another wealth tax question - do pensions and other such instruments count? If not, what's preventing someone from buying a large annuity and avoiding the tax? And if you do... A lot of public pensions are worth 2+ million. Are public pensions supposed to be excluded? How does that get explained to the voters?
- toomuchtodo 7y agoGreat questions. I think we look with a critical eye but still make generous allowances for retirement savings vehicles. Keep in mind, the problem isn't people with single digit millions of wealth, the problem is those with tens, hundreds of millions, and billions of dollars.
- DuskStar 7y agoBut why are they a problem? Look, there's two kinds of taxes. One is to raise revenue, one is to punish behavior we don't like. Once you start describing the rich as a problem, it makes me think that this is the second kind of tax, and I really don't think that accumulating wealth, and helping out everyone else along the way by growing the economy, is something we should be punishing. If you say "the uber-rich ($10m is 99th percentile) do bad things, therefore we should tax the uber-rich", I'll really have to disagree - tax the bad things they do, not the demographic group!
- 7y ago