smk I can't tell if you were serious about abolishing all taxes and creating a welfare state where everybody gets a "living wage" from the government. If there were no taxes where would they get it from? Or are you suggesting we go Zimbabwe style and hyperinflate?
While the whole article is obviously silly, the thing I'm really trying to understand is why the author is complaining about the fact we don't tax people's savings... Income is taxed, spending is taxed, interest earned on savings is taxed... But now they want to tax money people don't have invested as well?
So a higher standard of living includes: much lower household wealth, living at home longer, staying in UNI, having both partners working full time, and not having kids until it's almost too late?
For gen y's it might be less people can afford to buy houses so they are renting and using their higher expendable income to enjoy their lives more?
Exactly. Which is why everybody needs to pay the tax they owe. One can argue whether the rates should be lower or higher but that is a separate discussion to avoiding tax because of financial status.
Do we really need taxes if money can be created out of thin air? It's all pretend, so why not pretend we're capable of securing the necessities for everyone? There shouldn't be any hyperinflation if the rate of currency creation is capped, stable, and predictable. Every year we already print more money, and taxes don't remove it from the system, it just moves it into the pockets of those with the best lobbyists. Theoretically, interest paid on debt destroys excess capital in the system, but if the lender counts this as income, does it really? At the moment, the government is free to swipe it's RBA credit card for whatever reason, the RBA pretends more money exists to make the purchase, and then the taxpayer is fleeced to pay the both the interest and the capital. Anyone who thinks this is conducive to fair and equitable treatment is mistaken. Why not give everyone a standard dole payment, including the government? Why not lay the foundation for a life without poverty in the form of the BCF wage, and maybe throw in a free tent and fishing pole every 3 years? Why not allow the motivated to prosper unmolested by taxation and (mis)representation of policies beyond simple governance, unless they decide to make voluntary contributions toward specific initiatives?
Problem when you start giving things to people for nothing is that they don't value it. Spend a few weeks with the recipients of welfare and see what they actually spend their money on. :/ Not that we should complain.
Agree. Thanks for being succinct. Similarly; GST is regressive. The politicians et al keep playing with the tax system for a reason, and making it more equitable is not one of them.
Generally income tax harms earners and consumption taxes harm producers. So no matter which way you look at it, someone is getting shafted. :/
This applies not only to welfare recipients, but also reserve banks and governments. Long term welfare recipients suffer from learned helplessness, which helps keep wages down and archons in power. Their expenses tend to favor items which offer an escape from the situation they perceive themselves to be stuck in, ranging from intoxicants to materialist trinkets (ironically, many people not on welfare also spend money on this escapism). If this perceived helplessness is reduced to the point they feel empowered rather than demonised, I'm sure it would reduce the waste of life and resources that the welfare stereotype portrays. If no-one pays taxes, who cares what people do with their BCF payment apart from those who seek to offer goods and services in exchange for it? If all receive payment equally, how will the government divide and conquer the people? Most welfare recipients lack faith in the system, and withdraw rather than play along. In a world where house prices are largely unattainable, education costs a fortune, jobs are no longer secure, governmental representation is biased in favor of the wealthy and government fiscal management bankrupts the future, can you blame those who benefit least from questioning the point of contributing? I also lack faith in the system. I only play along and contribute because... shit, I have no idea, I just do. But I'd sure as hell prefer not to.
At best, it's highly questionable whether Gen X & Y do actually have more disposable income than baby boomers did back in the day. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opi...the-young-poorer/story-e6frg6zo-1227150415653
I could be wrong, but I think that if we stopped taxing people and started just printing money for whatever politicians wanted to waste it on then other countries might lose faith in it (like most people think should happen to the US) and the value of our dollar would plummet? I assume it wouldn't take long for that living wage to be paid in worthless dollars while people pay premiums to get US (or other) dollars like in other countries that have similar ideas to yours (think Argentina etc).
I have real problems with this statement. Who decides who owes what? A bunch of politicians. This hardly an objective way of going about things. And the amounts are constantly changing, mostly overall increasing. And that's not even getting into the discussion of why exactly a person owes the government anything at all... I don't remember signing a contract with the government. They just decide I owe them and send their mercenaries around if I don't pay. I think it's called the Tony Soprano "business model".
I think you'd find inflation would be absolutely rampant as the market participants attempt to outcompete each other with their toy money for available resources buying items with a currency that has no current or future value. There would be no effective price controls, capital would be destroyed as there would be no incentive to save, it would be a nightmare for businesses trying to set prices for goods as the market would shift very rapidly and the living wage would have to be constantly increased in order to deal with all the problems which in turn would increase monetary inflation. One hugely vicious circle.
