From: TJM@MATH.AMS.ORG (Tom Maloney)
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre
Subject: Re: Flat Tax Defended
Date: 11 Sep 92 18:59:58 GMT

k*nt says:

-  David,
-
-  There will always be someone below the poverty line; right now it is 31
-  million or so "somebodies", a national disgrace attributable in large
-  part to spending for military and income transfer rather than for the
-  development of profit making enterprises such as exploitation of space,
-  so there is no magic "just enough income" that needs respecting by a
-  "progressive" income tax to the detriment of the country. I'm not
-  proposing that the "safety net" stuff be removed, just that it be taxed
-  the same as the rich person's income, so that the poor have as much
-  (you would say "more") reason than the rich to vote for fiscal
-  responsibility in their politicians, rather than pork barrelers.
-
-  As to your "marginal value of money" example, your math is wrong. Just
-  such a case as you describe used to exist, where some states based
-  their state taxes on a percentage of the federal taxes. When the tax
-  rate on the rich was high enough, this resulted in the ridiculous
-  situation that there were incomes for which the combination of state
-  and federal tax, had tax shelters not been employed, was more than 100%
-  of the income. Put the California state tax of 10.5% on top of the
-  British former highest tax rate of 95%, even as a percentage of just the
-  tax, and you begin to see the problem. For a short time, it even
-  existed in this country, until courts overturned it.
-
-  Try your scheme, of progressive rates but equal percentage increases
-  when taxes go up, this way. A person taxed at 10% who sees taxes rise
-  20% loses 2/90ths of his remaining income. A person taxed at 33 1/3%
-  who sees taxes rise 20% loses 9/90ths of his remaining income. Again,
-  the successful are punished for being successful, exactly the wrong
-  social message to send to make a society want to work for success.
-
-  If the marginal value of a dollar were like the marginal value of an
-  ice cream cone, the practical effect of your analogy, the rich wouldn't
-  work any harder to earn more dollars than a tyke would beg to eat a
-  tenth ice cream cone. To the contrary, the rich work harder for that
-  increment of dollars than do the poor, which is part of the reason they
-  are rich. The average millionaire, according to a US News and World
-  Report snippet several years ago, put in a 60 hour work week, while the
-  average burger flipper was probably putting in a 20-40 hour work week.
-
-  Money is a promoter of self esteem and a way to keep score in life, not
-  just a consumable good.
-
-  Thus, money, as a measure of value, is not subject to the same marginal
-  value analysis as goods.
-
-  The "progressive" income tax, a seductive political idea because the
-  rich are always unpopular (the main Nazi complaint against the Jews
-  was that they were too financially successful), is a destroyer of
-  progress, a simply terrible idea, and one it is time to end.  The rich
-  lead enviable life styles, but they also fuel the growth of economies.
-  Depriving them of the wealth that makes that possible, out of envy at
-  their success, hurts everyone, not just the rich.
-
-  Putting, as we do, the bulk of the tax burden on the middle class just
-  stifles savings and initiative to risk new business, the main force for
-  high employment and a growing economy, so the econometricists tell us.
-
-  By the way, I also think capital gains should be taxed just like other
-  income, but only real capital gains, with inflation removed before the
-  gain is calculated.
-
-  It is an obscenity that government is permitted to tax the "gain in
-  value" of an item sold when all that has really happened is that
-  government policy has decreased the value of the dollars in which that
-  (quite possibly non-existant) gain in value is measured. This rewards
-  government for inflation (as does allowing government to be in debt),
-  and so promotes inflationary legislative and administrative policies,
-  the end result of which is to punish the frugal, the old, and others on
-  fixed incomes, and to reward the profligate, the debt ridden, and the
-  overspending Congress.
-
-  No wonder the US has the lowest private savings rate, and thus the
-  least money to fuel growth, of any industrialized country; our tax
-  system demands just that.
-
-  Kent, the man from xanth.
-  "The Birthright of humankind is the stars!"
-  --
-  Ignore the header, and don't expect me to see a news reply.  Use email to:
-  <dolan@nrlmry.navy.mil> or <dolan@192.138.87.240>

I have no joke, I just like saying "main Nazi complaint"

Tom
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre