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Everything you're saying sounds great, but afaict VAT doesn't have the power to rework a society the way income tax does: * Marriage is incentivized via the ad
by kdmccormick 3y ago
Everything you're saying sounds great, but afaict VAT doesn't have the power to rework a society the way income tax does:
* Marriage is incentivized via the advantageous married-filing-jointly option.
* Donations are deductible.
* Employers are incentivized to replace part of wages with benefits packages including health insurance, which incentivizes people to not be unemployed.
(I'm not saying any of this is a good thing, especially that last one :)
- AnthonyMouse 3y ago> Marriage is incentivized via the advantageous married-filing-jointly option. For 99% of people the 2023 brackets for married filing jointly are just double the ones for being single, and actually penalize two-income married couples in higher income brackets. Moreover, this wouldn't even do anything in a system with a flat marginal tax rate. But if you actually wanted some marriage bonus you could increase the amount of the UBI for married couples. > Donations are deductible. So you don't charge VAT for donations or let the charity buy things without paying it. > Employers are incentivized to replace part of wages with benefits packages including health insurance, which incentivizes people to not be unemployed. This is definitely not a good thing and should be burned to the ground. But you could get the same effect if you wanted it by not charging VAT when e.g. employers pay for healthcare. The better solution would, of course, be to not charge VAT when anyone pays for healthcare.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y agoI agreed with everything the parent said, but to deal with the points you're implicitly raising: just send people checks instead of offering tax credits. Do X? Get Y! instead of: Do X? Fill out 3 forms, cross-reference to 2 others, be eligible for a tax credit if you earned enough, file ....