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I'm surprised that nobody has provided the obvious answer to the OPs question about "wealth redistribution". (And for the time being I'll leave let that mischaracterization of what I'd call "equity" alone.")
You institute a wealth tax instead (or in addition) to an income tax. You tax all an individual wealth, either on a flat rate or progressive rate, instead of their income. So the tax is not just on the dividends from stocks, but the value of the stocks themselves. Not just on a bond's interest, but on the bond too. Same with limited partnerships and other financial assets. No just on the rents from buildings, but on the actual market value of office towers and apartment buildings. (Yes, the equivalent of a federal property tax). And yes, a tax paid every year, based on market value, of all the baubles that rich folks play with--their art, jewelry, yachts, race horses, and so on.
A wealth tax could help level the playing field in an age of growing inequality, fund necessary government expenditures like infrastructure and health care. And most importantly, it would reduce the social friction and political instability that can threaten a democracy when wealth and income inequality keeps growing.
Would it work? Like everything, the Devil is in the details. It would depend on lots of other stuff, ranging from what would happen to income tax rates, how state and local tax policies might change, the measures to prevent capital flight (which happens anyway; the rich are very good at finding loopholes and tax havens), whether the tax would be designed to be revenue neutral, and on and on.
But it is the obvious answer in how to ameliorate inequality in the U.S. which is a political problem, not just an economic one.
Hi,
I didn't realize we had any communists on CD. Welcome!
You institute a wealth tax instead (or in addition) to an income tax. You tax all an individual wealth, either on a flat rate or progressive rate, instead of their income.
A flat rate makes sense IMO, since there is even more disparity in wealth than income.
Looks like there is ~$270T in assets in the US. A 1% wealth tax would be a lot of revenue ($2.7T). But I'm not sure if that is the best number to use, or if net worth would be better...? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financ..._United_States
Who pays for your health insurance? I assume it's all of us since you never complain about those costs.
Where's our tax break?
For 30 years I was uninsured and paid higher effective tax rates than my employer-insured peers. There are a number of "disease-specific" non-profit organizations (Heart Association, Cancer Society, Lung Association, etc) and one of them pays for my health insurance.
The question is downright silly since it's a fact that civilization, education and health care costs between 30 and 50% of GDP - every country in the world pays this.
How did we manage to get by during the Coolidge administration, when federal taxes were 2.5% of GDP? My grandparents were mature adults then, and as far as I know they didn't feel deprived of public services.
How did we manage to get by during the Coolidge administration, when federal taxes were 2.5% of GDP? My grandparents were mature adults then, and as far as I know they didn't feel deprived of public services.
Coolidge was President from August 1923 to March 1929. Maybe he didn't have quite everything covered in his day.
How did we manage to get by during the Coolidge administration, when federal taxes were 2.5% of GDP? My grandparents were mature adults then, and as far as I know they didn't feel deprived of public services.
What on earth would they have compared it to? Roaring 20s and a bubble economy. It was all good until it collapsed.
The fact remains that the economy really took off once public spending ramped up. Real median incomes tripled from the early 30s to late 70s.
A friend of the family grew up on a small California farm in the 1930's. They grew string beans. They couldn't eat the string beans because they needed to sell them all. Many nights they picked dandelions off the lawn to eat for dinner. People have no idea of the level of poverty that existed during the Depression, before the New Deal was enacted. Today poverty is needing to use the free internet at the public library. Some of my friends who complain about welfare would be bankrupt without their Social Security and Medicare. They can make the distinction that they paid into both, but neither would exist without the social engineering of FDR. There's nothing wrong with social engineering. We have just been brainwashed since Reagan to believe it is somehow wrong to interfere with the rich. Reminds me of the reverent attitude that people used to have of monarchs and the divine right of kings.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rruff
What on earth would they have compared it to? Roaring 20s and a bubble economy. It was all good until it collapsed.
The fact remains that the economy really took off once public spending ramped up. Real median incomes tripled from the early 30s to late 70s.
What on earth would they have compared it to? Roaring 20s and a bubble economy. It was all good until it collapsed.
The fact remains that the economy really took off once public spending ramped up. Real median incomes tripled from the early 30s to late 70s.
They also tripled from 1865 to 1929.
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