3 ms·

Any society should aim to have the most educated population it can afford to have. Them getting a better earning through it can be a nice side effect of that, b

by atoav 5d ago

Any society should aim to have the most educated population it can afford to have. Them getting a better earning through it can be a nice side effect of that, but it is a side effect. The main price is that living among educated people beats living among the dumb and uneducated, especially in a democracy. The US would have no problem affording that education, if it just considered taxing the richest members of its society a reasonable amount, as it did in the past.

anamax 5d ago
While maximum US tax rates have varied significantly, the amount of money collected as a fraction of GDP has been remarkably stable. I mention both rates and "fraction of GDP" because rates can't be spent. The maximum take is around 20%, regardless of rates, and we're there now, and have been for decades.
opo 5d ago
>...The US would have no problem affording that education, if it just considered taxing the richest members of its society a reasonable amount, as it did in the past. The USA has about the most progressive taxes of all the OECD countries. In the United States high earners pay high taxes and pay a heavy share of the federal tax burden, while lower- and middle-income households pay comparatively little in direct federal income tax and there is no national consumption tax. In other OECD countries the high earners pay high taxes, but the poor and middle classes also pay high taxes including a 15%–25% national sales taxes (VAT). The US would have no problem affording that education if its tax policy was similar to all the other OECD countries, but that is not a choice voters have made. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2008/10/growing-unequal_g1gh8dfb/9789264044197-en.pdf https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/report...

3 ms·

Any society should aim to have the most educated population it can afford to have. Them getting a better earning through it can be a nice side effect of that, b

by atoav 5d ago

anamax 5d ago
While maximum US tax rates have varied significantly, the amount of money collected as a fraction of GDP has been remarkably stable. I mention both rates and "fraction of GDP" because rates can't be spent. The maximum take is around 20%, regardless of rates, and we're there now, and have been for decades.
opo 5d ago
>...The US would have no problem affording that education, if it just considered taxing the richest members of its society a reasonable amount, as it did in the past. The USA has about the most progressive taxes of all the OECD countries. In the United States high earners pay high taxes and pay a heavy share of the federal tax burden, while lower- and middle-income households pay comparatively little in direct federal income tax and there is no national consumption tax. In other OECD countries the high earners pay high taxes, but the poor and middle classes also pay high taxes including a 15%–25% national sales taxes (VAT). The US would have no problem affording that education if its tax policy was similar to all the other OECD countries, but that is not a choice voters have made. https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2008/10/growing-unequal_g1gh8dfb/9789264044197-en.pdf https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/report...