<
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/09/thomas-piketty-goes-global>
"[...]the policies we adopt certainly do influence inequality. Steeply
progressive income taxes and estate taxes shaped income distributions
during those Trente Glorieuses. Consider, for that matter, how
corporations and the very rich are indulged by the current taxation
regime in the West. Tax-collection agencies are resigned to the fact
that the biggest fortunes also tend to be the most mobile. In the U.S.,
many states compete to provide rich people with advantageous tax rates,
in order not to lose them. But whatever revenue is gained by holding on
to some fortunes is more than undercut by the diminished rates. Since
Congress passed its 2017 package of tax cuts—which Republican sponsors
justified on global-competition grounds, and claimed would “pay for
itself”—corporate-tax collections have fallen by a third. The U.S. is
now running trillion-dollar deficits, during a period of long-lasting
economic growth, no major military engagements, and no ramp-up in social
spending."
Via
libramoon@pluspora.com.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
