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> If you want to tax the rich, use a progressive income tax and also: That sounds good in theory but it never works in practice, historically speaking. In prac
by austincheney 6y ago
> If you want to tax the rich, use a progressive income tax and also:
That sounds good in theory but it never works in practice, historically speaking. In practice there are exceptions, deductions, and compromises. It always disadvantages the non wealthy who are not in a position to argue for their special cases.
- dragonwriter 6y ago> That sounds good in theory but it never works in practice, historically speaking. That’s because people in practice don’t do the “and also” part, but instead do something like the tax-the-rich theater of “‘taxing the rich’ via progressive income taxes, but making capital gains taxed at a lower top marginal rate with a less-progressive structure and labor income subject to special additional taxes.” Because, in practice, the wealthy write the laws, and use control of the mechanisms of mass communication to focus attention on the parts that sound good favorable to the common man (progressive structure) and then distract from the impact of the bits that let the rich off and soak the working and middle class (preferential treatment of capital, gifts, and inheritances and anti-preferential treatment of labor income.) Hence my focus and the “and also” bits that need to be part of a progressive income tax system for it to work properly.