2024-04-03 We need more taxes
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I recently wondered about our plan for dealing with the rich. A key
part is increased taxation.

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.

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.

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!

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