Throughout history a reliable way to distinguish good economic thought from bad is to see what they reason about. Good economists reason from ends, viz., what t

Throughout history a reliable way to distinguish good economic thought from bad is to see what they reason about. Good economists reason from ends, viz., what they want an economy to accomplish. Bad economists reason from superficial results and moralities, viz., "category X of people are too rich" or "I personally think something is wrong with the way money is structured, so let's tax it." And the nature of moral reasoning is that it substitutes for truth. You begin to believe things simply because they fit your narrative. But the nice thing about economics is we have data to show these things are wrong in elementary ways. * The rich pay more taxes than the middle class. The ultra-rich pay fewer taxes than the "ordinary" rich by a few tenths of a percent. * The marginal tax rate (including welfare, which you should) on the poor and lower-midde class is extremely high. Often the system actually penalizes you for working. By contrast, the most generous tax structure goes toward the middle and upper middle classes. Here it is, in one graph: https://lh3.ggpht.com/-_-6Fsycanmw/ULO_5kk3fxI/AAAAAAAAAU4/y1PbUElDS34/s1600/marginal-tax_6.PNG https://lh3.ggpht.com/-_-6Fsycanmw/ULO_5kk3fxI/AAAAAAAAAU4/y... * High corporate taxes disincentivize paying out shareholder wealth, and incentivize constantly-reinvesting behemoths. If you think corporations are too big, lower corporate taxes! Even "socialist" countries know this; the US has the highest corporate taxes in the developed world. They're the #1 reason Apple is sitting on a 12-figure cash pile, for example. * I have no idea why the "location" of cash, offshore or onshore, even matters. It's just another vague handwavey accusation. Ooh, this cash is offshore, it must be sinister. I can go on, but I'll stop. Here's the thing, though: I think taxes on the rich should be higher. I think corporations should be smaller. But it does an extraordinary disservice to this cause to peddle nonsense and push for more and more broken tax structures in the mistaken belief that the goal of the tax system is to punish the social classes and behaviors you don't like. The goal of the tax system is to provide for the general welfare. The best way to do this is in an equitable, progressive, even and sensible tax structure. Punishing specific behaviors is how you create the tax loopholes that the rich allegedly take advantage of (actually, the upper middle class is in best position to take advantage of these anyway).