4 ms·

Western societies have been more democratic... and more capitalist. If you take high taxes to the extreme (eg. eliminate all billionaires like Bernie Sanders re

Western societies have been more democratic... and more capitalist. If you take high taxes to the extreme (eg. eliminate all billionaires like Bernie Sanders recommends), you get closer to communism which hasn't done as well.

mthoms 7y ago
I'm not even sure what you're arguing anymore. Communism is bad? I agree. It does nothing to support your assertion that any and all governments are inherently bad.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- appleiigs 7y ago
  We were having a tax discussion. We both agree that gov't has gross inefficiencies, so I'm suggesting funding the inefficient organization less. When I said "it hasn't been good" I was talking in the context about efficiency. In my next comment, I again was talking about taxes. I used communism as an example of a high tax system. I also wanted to point out that western style democracies which you call good, lean toward capitalism, where gov't have a smaller role in society - which I am using to support my lower tax argument.
omegaworks 7y ago
>If you take high taxes to the extreme (eg. eliminate all billionaires like Bernie Sanders recommends), you get closer to communism which hasn't done as well. At the height of the American war effort, the top tax bracket exceeded 90% of individual income[1] this dramatically decreased inequality and established the modern middle class. It was also arguably the most stable and prosperous time for families, with most able to sustain with a single-income earner. Bernie Sanders suggests that we respond to the ongoing climate crisis with a similar level of world-war scale effort with the hopes of averting even worse, more destabilizing effects. 1. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/how-federal-income-tax-rates-work https://www.urban.org/research/publication/how-federal-incom...

4 ms·

Western societies have been more democratic... and more capitalist. If you take high taxes to the extreme (eg. eliminate all billionaires like Bernie Sanders re

by appleiigs 7y ago

mthoms 7y ago
I'm not even sure what you're arguing anymore. Communism is bad? I agree. It does nothing to support your assertion that any and all governments are inherently bad.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- appleiigs 7y ago
  We were having a tax discussion. We both agree that gov't has gross inefficiencies, so I'm suggesting funding the inefficient organization less. When I said "it hasn't been good" I was talking in the context about efficiency. In my next comment, I again was talking about taxes. I used communism as an example of a high tax system. I also wanted to point out that western style democracies which you call good, lean toward capitalism, where gov't have a smaller role in society - which I am using to support my lower tax argument.
omegaworks 7y ago
>If you take high taxes to the extreme (eg. eliminate all billionaires like Bernie Sanders recommends), you get closer to communism which hasn't done as well. At the height of the American war effort, the top tax bracket exceeded 90% of individual income[1] this dramatically decreased inequality and established the modern middle class. It was also arguably the most stable and prosperous time for families, with most able to sustain with a single-income earner. Bernie Sanders suggests that we respond to the ongoing climate crisis with a similar level of world-war scale effort with the hopes of averting even worse, more destabilizing effects. 1. https://www.urban.org/research/publication/how-federal-income-tax-rates-work https://www.urban.org/research/publication/how-federal-incom...