5 ms·

This depends on the definition of fair, which depends on the intended purpose of the taxes in question. There seem to be 3 general categories of taxes: 1. Inc

This depends on the definition of fair, which depends on the intended purpose of the taxes in question. There seem to be 3 general categories of taxes: 1. Incentives 2. Dis-incentives 3. Money to pay for services Each needs to be examined for potentially unfair rules.

motohagiography 5y ago
Category 0. would be "policy that rewards the coalition of people who keep you in power." Reason and principle are rhetorical distractions. The rule is to take from the people who don't and give to the people who do. It's not even an abstraction, it's just politics in its most essential form.
- djoldman 5y ago
  Well that would probably fall under incentives. Generally I think that the most waste is to be found in the incentives and dis-incentives categories.
  - lazide 5y ago
    I think the posters point is that thinking of it that way might be missing an important motivation behind many taxes, which is maintaining the power base by helping those seen as supporters and hurting those seen as detractors. If thinking of an abstract incentive/disincentive structure, you could phrase it as ‘incentivizing those who support me to continue to support me’, and ‘disincentivized those who don’t support me from continuing to not support me’, but those are never the reasons given. To their point, the reasons given can or are often transparently be seen to be the more direct reason, but always have a smokescreen with rational justifications as to why they are not. If you don’t look at underlying motivations, it’s easy to get caught up in the rational (smokescreen) reasons for something and chase your own tail endlessly without addressing the underlying causes. My 2c
    - djoldman 5y ago
      Ah, thanks, yes that makes the comment more clear. Yes this gets into the meta game of taxes. Aka what actually happens is that the law that gets passed is the one that is the maximum benefit for the party in power that gives the minimum required to get the votes from the minority. This is mostly true for any legislation though. Taxes are pretty interesting laws in that they have become this massive catch-all place to push the economy around. It's an endless source of unintended consequences.

motohagiography 5y ago

Category 0. would be "policy that rewards the coalition of people who keep you in power." Reason and principle are rhetorical distractions. The rule is to take from the people who don't and give to the people who do. It's not even an abstraction, it's just politics in its most essential form.

djoldman 5y ago
Well that would probably fall under incentives. Generally I think that the most waste is to be found in the incentives and dis-incentives categories.
- lazide 5y ago
  I think the posters point is that thinking of it that way might be missing an important motivation behind many taxes, which is maintaining the power base by helping those seen as supporters and hurting those seen as detractors. If thinking of an abstract incentive/disincentive structure, you could phrase it as ‘incentivizing those who support me to continue to support me’, and ‘disincentivized those who don’t support me from continuing to not support me’, but those are never the reasons given. To their point, the reasons given can or are often transparently be seen to be the more direct reason, but always have a smokescreen with rational justifications as to why they are not. If you don’t look at underlying motivations, it’s easy to get caught up in the rational (smokescreen) reasons for something and chase your own tail endlessly without addressing the underlying causes. My 2c
  - djoldman 5y ago
    Ah, thanks, yes that makes the comment more clear. Yes this gets into the meta game of taxes. Aka what actually happens is that the law that gets passed is the one that is the maximum benefit for the party in power that gives the minimum required to get the votes from the minority. This is mostly true for any legislation though. Taxes are pretty interesting laws in that they have become this massive catch-all place to push the economy around. It's an endless source of unintended consequences.