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That’s ridiculous. Why have taxes at all if spending is not dependent on them?

thatguy0900 5y ago
Because you need to pretend the spending does depend on them. Otherwise the magic of Fiat currency starts to waver
dragonwriter 5y ago
> Why have taxes at all if spending is not dependent on them? In aggregate, to offset, to the extent viewed desirable, the money supply effects of the creation of money in spending, and in terms of specific distribution of taxes to effect a desired (re)distribution of net income. Also, though the above would be sufficient on its own, because prior to the abandonment of commodity-representational currency for pure fiat, the metaphor of the fisc, a finite purse (from which we get the adjective “fiscal”) was a reasonable model of government finances, and there is a lot of inertia in popular models of the world. So, even though it is no longer an apt model, lots of people — both in the electorate and even in government — still view the world through a framework in which that is exactly how things work, which affects their decisions as electors or government decision-makers.
- coding123 5y ago
  Ok, so we're at the point where we just create money I guess. I didn't understand any of this mumbo jumbo but I'll follow for a second. Even if this is all true and it's effectively free - we're saying the tax payer isn't paying for it. However isn't there still an unfairness when it comes to who BENEFITS from said broadband?
michaelbrave 5y ago
In MMO's they have a concept called a "gold sink" where in order to fight inflation they create very expensive things and methods/payments that essentially waste money to keep the economy from crashing. If most money nowadays is calculated digitally (which it is, most transactions are spreadsheets and databases instead of actual cash or goods) and the way most new money that is created is created in similar fashion (it is). Then the constrains of money creation are limited to faith in the system, value speculation (mostly by other countries for what they can trade it for) and inflation. Most monetary systems crash due to overprinting of money and excess inflation which causes a lack of faith in the system. Having something akin to "Gold Sinks" is part of keeping things running, taxes are a perfect way to do that, though the distribution could use some tweaking to get better results, especially if one cares about wealth redistribution.
triceratops 5y ago
To incentivize certain things and disincentivize others.
bawana 5y ago
Because jobs and income streams depend on their calculation, collection and regulation.

Because you need to pretend the spending does depend on them. Otherwise the magic of Fiat currency starts to waver

> Why have taxes at all if spending is not dependent on them? In aggregate, to offset, to the extent viewed desirable, the money supply effects of the creation of money in spending, and in terms of specific distribution of taxes to effect a desired (re)distribution of net income. Also, though the above would be sufficient on its own, because prior to the abandonment of commodity-representational currency for pure fiat, the metaphor of the fisc, a finite purse (from which we get the adjective “fiscal”) was a reasonable model of government finances, and there is a lot of inertia in popular models of the world. So, even though it is no longer an apt model, lots of people — both in the electorate and even in government — still view the world through a framework in which that is exactly how things work, which affects their decisions as electors or government decision-makers.

coding123 5y ago
Ok, so we're at the point where we just create money I guess. I didn't understand any of this mumbo jumbo but I'll follow for a second. Even if this is all true and it's effectively free - we're saying the tax payer isn't paying for it. However isn't there still an unfairness when it comes to who BENEFITS from said broadband?

michaelbrave 5y ago

In MMO's they have a concept called a "gold sink" where in order to fight inflation they create very expensive things and methods/payments that essentially waste money to keep the economy from crashing. If most money nowadays is calculated digitally (which it is, most transactions are spreadsheets and databases instead of actual cash or goods) and the way most new money that is created is created in similar fashion (it is). Then the constrains of money creation are limited to faith in the system, value speculation (mostly by other countries for what they can trade it for) and inflation. Most monetary systems crash due to overprinting of money and excess inflation which causes a lack of faith in the system. Having something akin to "Gold Sinks" is part of keeping things running, taxes are a perfect way to do that, though the distribution could use some tweaking to get better results, especially if one cares about wealth redistribution.

triceratops 5y ago

To incentivize certain things and disincentivize others.

bawana 5y ago

Because jobs and income streams depend on their calculation, collection and regulation.