2024-04-03 We need more taxes

I recently wondered about our plan for dealing with the rich. A key part is increased taxation.

our plan

Whenever I hear talk about the state crumbling (and since my wife works for the federal government in Switzerland I hear plenty of that), the first thing many people think is that the fault lies with the balanced budget amendment ("Schuldenbremse"). And indeed, that is the obvious cause for many of the problems.

balanced budget amendment

Arguing about the balanced budget amendment is doomed, however. Most people don't understand the difference between household economics and state economics. A much simpler solution exists, one that everybody understands: **INCREASE TAXES FFS!**

Now I know why countries like Switzerland don't like to increase taxes: Where would all the oligarchs go? Where would all the great holdings go? And within Switzerland, same thing: as soon as one canton dropped inheritance tax they all feared that the rich would move elsewhere and started dropping their inheritance taxes. And now there is practically none, for descendants. Wealth can stay in the family, like in the good old days of feudalism.

there is practically none

Next up: Fighting tax evasion, fighting the free movement of capital, fighting for a global tax (do not follow the Swiss model of malevolent compliance!), and more. The fighting just never stops, I know. 😩

Progressive taxation is great. The more you own and make, the more you can afford to support the public good. Pay proportionally more!

Progressive taxation

Taxes are great for redistribution of wealth. We don't need to argue about Universal Basic Income (I support it!) or new subsidies or anything else like that: We can simply use existing mechanisms to redistribute wealth, reducing that Gini coefficient, increasing happiness, increasing the feeling of living in a fair and just society, increasing the feeling that work can get you to the top.

Taxes are great to fight inflation, too! If the state hands out more money in a time of crisis, that excess money has to be taken back via taxes. This keeps the money flowing (and only money flowing is what counts). Of course you don't want to bring it back via asocial taxation schemes like a fixed per-head tax, or a VAT, but something like progressive income tax or progressive wealth tax.

This makes sense, even in broken system like ours: COVID money for everybody, everybody is squeezed by landlords and industry, then tax the rich to get the money back. Virtuous cycle!

​#Economics