OT: taxation (was Re: Mountains Rush and Moore)

From: Alan Anderson (aranders_at_insightbb.com)
Date: 08/21/04 

Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 15:22:06 GMT

Rand Simberg <newsgroups@transterrestrial.com> wrote:

> Alan Anderson wrote:
>
> > I'm in favor of tossing out income taxes entirely, myself. I believe that
> > the most appropriate basis for taxation is wealth, not cash flow. Don't
> > tax me based on what I earn or spend. Tax me based on what I *own*.
>
> The problem with that is that one often has to sell off assets (like a
> family business) in order to pay the taxes. Better to tax based on what
> one actually spends.

That's only a problem if your assets aren't producing enough income. In
that case, society is better off by "encouraging" you to trade them to
someone else who will make better use of it. A stagnant pool of idle
wealth is not productive; it promotes only laziness.

Simplifying wildly, taxing something usually discourages that something.
Taxing what is spent discourages spending. Taxing what is earned has
resulted in a large number of people whose role is to figure out ways to
nullify earnings.

Taxing what is owned discourages the accumulation of property which cannot
pay for itself. If economic growth is a goal, I think that's a good
thing.

Relevant Pages

  • OT: taxation (was Re: Mountains Rush and Moore)
    ... >> I'm in favor of tossing out income taxes entirely, ... That's only a problem if your assets aren't producing enough income. ... taxing something usually discourages that something. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • OT: taxation (was Re: Mountains Rush and Moore)
    ... >> I'm in favor of tossing out income taxes entirely, ... That's only a problem if your assets aren't producing enough income. ... taxing something usually discourages that something. ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)