4 ms·
If there are specific policy goals that we'd like to accomplish, it's probably best to make a very simple taxation system (tax the total of everything, using th
by leot 13y ago
If there are specific policy goals that we'd like to accomplish, it's probably best to make a very simple taxation system (tax the total of everything, using the best appraisal tools we have), and then add specific provisions that address such goals directly. One simple approach to the retirement issue might be to have marginal wealth taxation rates (first $100k are exempt, e.g.), or have (as we do now) limited tax-protected retirement funds (EDIT: e.g., IRAs -- "accounts" might have been the better word).
- dnautics 13y agothat's cute, who would get the privilege to run those tax-protected retirement funds. What sort of investments would be permitted in these funds? Aren't these people, then, the benefits of largesse created as people flee the taxation?
- michaelt 13y agoPlenty of countries already have partly-tax-exempt retirement savings, to encourage people to lock money up for retirement instead of making equivalent instant access investments.
- jeltz 13y agoYes, and there the banks running those tax exempt savings make a killing through their large profit margins.
- leot 13y agoHuh? Instead of "fund" perhaps I should have said "account". I was just thinking of IRAs (as they're named in the U.S.) and the like.
- dnautics 13y agowhat are you allowed to put into an IRA, and those investment vehicles are the benefits of a privilege that no one else has. Could you use your IRA to invest in a person just released from prison, to give them job training, if he agrees to pay you a portion of his salary back? No. But you could use your IRA to invest in a fortune 500 company.