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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   28128 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 15, 2024

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He's not trying to smuggle a plan for the rich. Read the part where he advocates for a progressive consumption tax again.

At this point you might be thinking “Yes, but wouldn’t eliminating all income and consumption taxes be a giveaway to the rich?” No, it would be restoring fairness by taxing the thrifty and spendthrift at equal rates. If we think the rich should pay more tax, then let’s put a progressive consumption tax into effect. This is easy to do, just turn the regressive FICA into a progressive payroll tax, with much higher rates for those with high wages and salaries. This sort of tax can achieve any desired degree of progressivity. Unlike most libertarians, I think a progressive payroll tax is desirable for simple utilitarian reasons.

He is explaining that there is no reason to tax capital gains if your goal is to reduce inequality. From the second article:

What “principle” suggests that patient people should be taxed at higher rates than impatient people—even if they have the same lifetime wealth?

Your only answer that seems to be that they have different wealth, which he explains is not true, so what reason remains for taxing capital gains?

As for what is wrong with discouraging saving, he never says that saving is inherently good. He gives a very clear and specific reason for why it's bad to discourage saving.

The inheritance tax discourages saving, and thus reduces the capital stock. This lowers the real wage of workers who work with physical capital.

This one may clarify a few things.

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