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1. Sell it, finance public services with the revenue, and lower other taxes. You don't have to be socialist and/or critical to market economies to support 100%

1. Sell it, finance public services with the revenue, and lower other taxes. You don't have to be socialist and/or critical to market economies to support 100% OP's proposal. 2. I don't think "estate taxes were raised" is all that happened in the East Block.

loxs 6y ago
1. Who is going to do it? Politicians? As it works here with the EU subsidies - 80% of the money goes through the PM's cousin's company and a hefty percentage leaks to offshore banks :) 2. Yeah, after they did that, people didn't want to work any more, so they had to force them :)
- anoncake 6y ago
  I'm not interested in debating someone who thinks raising estate taxes is what ruined the East Block.
  - loxs 6y ago
    Enlighten me, what ruined it?
    - brrt 6y ago
      I guess the incarceration rate would be a good candidate too
    - hackyhacky 6y ago
      Totalitarian rule. Lack of democracy. Lack of freedom of speech. Constant surveillance. Integration of politics into every aspect of life. Economic exploitation by Russia. Intentional undermining of historical cultural identity. I could on.
      - loxs 6y ago
        So you say that a government which takes (unwillingly) the inheritance of all its citizens can pull it off without a totalitarian approach, suppressing freedom of speech, constant surveillance (to figure out who has what) etc? I don't buy it :)
        anoncake 6y ago
        Yes, taxing people is not a totalitarian thing.
michael1999 6y ago
A more generous response would respond to the original point. If we tax the rural aristocracy (i.e. concentrated land-owners) out of existence, then who will then administer that property? The obvious answer is large-scale agribusiness which achieves mortmain and never dies. Given the history of the unholy alliance between ADM, Monstanto, and the US government, it is fair to ask if that would be an improvement. Personally, I think unlocking the land from the trust-fund people cosplaying farmers until they can turn it into housing would be a good thing. But there are a lot of moving parts. If not the aristocrats, then who? Someone will run things, and it isn't always obvious who will do it better.

loxs 6y ago

1. Who is going to do it? Politicians? As it works here with the EU subsidies - 80% of the money goes through the PM's cousin's company and a hefty percentage leaks to offshore banks :) 2. Yeah, after they did that, people didn't want to work any more, so they had to force them :)

anoncake 6y ago
I'm not interested in debating someone who thinks raising estate taxes is what ruined the East Block.
- loxs 6y ago
  Enlighten me, what ruined it?
  - brrt 6y ago
    I guess the incarceration rate would be a good candidate too
  - hackyhacky 6y ago
    Totalitarian rule. Lack of democracy. Lack of freedom of speech. Constant surveillance. Integration of politics into every aspect of life. Economic exploitation by Russia. Intentional undermining of historical cultural identity. I could on.
    - loxs 6y ago
      So you say that a government which takes (unwillingly) the inheritance of all its citizens can pull it off without a totalitarian approach, suppressing freedom of speech, constant surveillance (to figure out who has what) etc? I don't buy it :)
      - anoncake 6y ago
        Yes, taxing people is not a totalitarian thing.

michael1999 6y ago

A more generous response would respond to the original point. If we tax the rural aristocracy (i.e. concentrated land-owners) out of existence, then who will then administer that property? The obvious answer is large-scale agribusiness which achieves mortmain and never dies. Given the history of the unholy alliance between ADM, Monstanto, and the US government, it is fair to ask if that would be an improvement. Personally, I think unlocking the land from the trust-fund people cosplaying farmers until they can turn it into housing would be a good thing. But there are a lot of moving parts. If not the aristocrats, then who? Someone will run things, and it isn't always obvious who will do it better.