> it had been held for centuries[1] that shareholder-owned corporations also had responsibilities to society and the general public, as well as to their industr

> it had been held for centuries[1] that shareholder-owned corporations also had responsibilities to society and the general public, as well as to their industry and their employees. For centuries[0], governments were very limited, and other organized institutions of human life, like churches and businesses, held duties to the public at large. Government spending as a percentage of GDP in the US, for example, remained in the single digits for most of its history[1] (outside of wartime), with a big bump post-WW2, then another big bump in the 70s with the Great Society programs, leading up to the current figure of a little over a third of the economy[2]. For an even longer view, government spending in the UK from the late 1600s and onward hovered around 10% with the same wartime jumps[3] for centuries, until the two world wars and the permanent expansion of the welfare state, hanging on around 45% now. So, it's a very reasonable view to say that governments around the world started to take a much more sizable role in such "responsibilities" to society, and crowded out private efforts in those arenas. In effect, redistributive taxes are supposed to take place of those previously responsible. [0]: Millennia, really; for most of civilized human existence. [1]: https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/short-history-government-taxing-and-spending-united-states/ https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/short-history... [2]: https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/exp@FPP/USA/FRA/JPN/GBR/SWE/ESP/ITA/ZAF/IND https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/exp@FPP/USA/FRA/JPN/... [3]: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8265/CBP-8265.pdf https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-...