The purpose of taxation is to:
- control for inflation
- discourage taxed behavior
- address social needs
A wealth tax would address 2 and 3. Regarding 2, the negative behavior being discouraged is rent-seeking and a wealth tax would serve to preempt rent extraction. Regarding 3, the social need being addressed is relative equality in a liberal democracy in order to obviate falling into oligarchy as a kind of neo-feudalism based on ownership.
Robert Reich
Why We Need a Wealth Tax
Robert Reich | Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies; formerly Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration
1 comment:
The purpose of taxation is to:
1. control for inflation ... Tom Hickey
By taxing the non-rich, the bulk of consumers, till it hurts.
Meanwhile, what about privileges for the banks and, by extension, for the rich, the most so-called "credit worthy"? Do these not use up precious politically acceptable price inflation space that might otherwise be use for the common welfare?
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