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Reducing inflation is indeed one of the reasons, but what I was getting at is that the government doesn't "need" people for tax revenue to pay for its services,
by saulpw 26d ago
Reducing inflation is indeed one of the reasons, but what I was getting at is that the government doesn't "need" people for tax revenue to pay for its services, contrary to popular belief. It needs taxes to make its money valuable.
L. Randall Wray, "What Are Taxes For? The MMT Approach" (2014):
> Sovereign government does not really need revenue in its own currency in order to spend. It is the tax that 'drives' the currency. If we eliminated the tax, people probably would not immediately abandon use of the currency, but the main driver for its use would be gone.
- bigfishrunning 25d agoFair enough, both points are valid
- naveen99 25d agoThere are two types of citizens: debtors and creditors. Printing currency pays the debtors. Raising interest rates pays the creditors. Income taxes take from debtors. Property taxes and printing money take from creditors.