Rosencrantz2
18d ago
Yes, Musk benefited from a capitalist system. But so did literally everyone else. Nothing stopped you or your neighbor from doing what Musk did. The difference is he did it and you didn’t. And because of that, you want to punish him? Why are you envious?
He benefited way more though. He's using way more road capacity, he's drawing on the skills of people who've come through publicly funded education way more, he's causing way more waste to have be cleaned up by others, etc etc. How to calculate this I don't know but it seems like a reasonable part of an argument for progressive taxation based on just deserts.
I personally wouldn't make the argument this way, nor would envy be a part of my framing. I'd just say progressive taxation or a wealth tax is good when it maximises current and future wellbeing and leave it at that.
Rosencrantz2
26d ago
Do women who conceive themselves as selling themselves get looked on kindly? I think if there is evidence they don't like their husbands and are just marrying as a resource transaction, they will be judged fairly negatively.
Like I say, I wouldn't base my own argument for a wealth tax on just deserts. I don't think you can do a good accounting of the benefits and externalities and opportunity costs of the different parts of government, over the course of decades, such that we can say: gas taxes and tolls cover roads, income tax covers education, etc. It's all interconnected, historical and hard to put numbers on. Tax levels are set by politics and pragmatism, not an accounting of fairness. (To be clear I think this cuts both ways, I don't know if we can really math that Elon Musk gets exactly what he deserves, or if he gets too much either.)
Are these really the only options? What about wealth taxes as a good way to increase the wellbeing and opportunities of more people? Taking money from those who can easily afford it and using it to improve the lot of others in order to maximise utils or hedons or human flourishing, or whatever? It's not envy if someone actually believes wealth taxes are better for the wider populace, and it's uncharitable to believe all wealth tax supporters are privately just in it for the satisfaction of seeing the rich taken down a peg.
More options
Context Copy link