3 ms·

To punish people who save money. It's that simple. It's a way of taxing wealth.

• trompetenaccoun 4y ago
  Kind of but in another way. It's an indirect tax on cash holders. Those who have the highest percentage of their wealth in cash/checking accounts/time deposits are poor and working class people. It's an easy way to grab money without too much resistance, which you'd get if you came for the assets of the actual wealthy: Stocks, real estate, etc. Most poor folks aren't literate in economics and don't even understand exactly what's happening, they just have a vague feeling they're getting ripped off by "those up there" and they're right. But they can't fight back.
• neilwilson 4y ago
  Entirely the opposite. It's people saving money that causes the 'problem' in the first place. If they didn't save there wouldn't be a deficit. Deficit = excess saving as a matter of accounting identity. We have an 'unbalanced' budget precisely to allow people to save what they want.