Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Chapter Summary Society is composed of taxpayers and tax consumers. The tax consumers benefit from taxation while the taxpayers foot the bill. All taxation distorts resource allocation and severs “distribution” from production. The total level of taxation is far more significant than the specific forms of the tax. Tax incidence refers to the actual long-run burden of taxation, which may differ from the immediate target. No tax can be shifted forward. (If retailers had this power, why wait for the tax?) All sales taxes are ultimately income taxes. An income tax reduces the utility of the taxpayers, and generally provides a disincentive to earn income. Income taxes may indirectly raise time preference rates by reducing overall income. It is no more odious to impair savings than consumption. Taxes on wages cannot be shifted to the employer. Corporate taxes are examples of “double” taxation. This encourages stockholders to leave the net income as “undistributed” earnings and hence distorts the flow of funds. A capital gain is a form of income, just as other types of profit. If we desire the (unattainable) goal of uniform taxation, one would need to correct capital gains for inflation. Proposals to directly tax consumption merely translate to an income tax. Such a tax does not favor savings, because the point 203 CHAPTER 4 BINARY INTERVENTION: TAXATION
204 Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market of savings is to consume in the future (when the tax will also operate). In contrast to a tax on current savings, the charge of “double taxation” is coherent when it comes to taxes on accumulated capital. These destroy the inherited tools, equipment, etc. from the past, and thus a 20 percent tax on capital is far more destructive than a 20 percent tax on income. The typical arguments against the progressive tax are that (1) it reduces the incentive to work, (2) it reduces savings, and (3) it is robbery of the rich by the poor. The first argument is correct, but this is also true of a proportional tax. The second argument is also correct, but those making it usually imply (with no justification) that it is somehow worse to reduce saving than to reduce consumption. The third argument is wrong: Under progressive taxation, the government robs both the rich and the poor. The Georgist proposal to tax ground rent ignores the owners’ role in allocating land to the most value-productive users. There would indeed be no incentive to charge rents at all; this would eliminate the Georgist tax base and cause severe distortions in the allocation of scarce land. The only objectively “just price” is the market price. Economists have generally abandoned the medieval quest for the just price, yet they cling to the notion of a just tax. It is impossible to tax everyone uniformly. First there is the distinction between taxpayers and tax consumers; since the latter pay no taxes, clearly “uniformity” is only possible if no one pays any taxes. Second, there is the problem of defining income. For example, should it include services in kind? Should it be calculated as a yearly average? If each taxpayer were truly taxed according to how much he or she benefited from government services, then it would be pointless to provide the services in the first place. Moreover, all bureaucrats would have to work for free.
Page 2 and 3:
STUDY GUIDE TO MAN, ECONOMY, AND ST
Page 4 and 5:
STUDY GUIDE TO MAN, ECONOMY, AND ST
Page 6 and 7:
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . .
Page 8 and 9:
In June of 2004, I became convinced
Page 10:
Introduction ix appropriate, I have
Page 13 and 14:
2 Study Guide to Man, Economy, and
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 50 and 51:
Chapter Summary In a money economy,
Page 52 and 53:
Chapter 4: Prices and Consumption 4
Page 54 and 55:
Page 56 and 57:
Page 58 and 59:
Page 60 and 61:
Page 62 and 63:
Page 64:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 80 and 81:
Chapter Summary In the evenly rotat
Page 82 and 83:
Chapter 6: Production: The Rate of
Page 84 and 85:
Page 86 and 87:
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
Chapter Summary This chapter explai
Page 94 and 95:
Chapter 7: Production: General Pric
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Chapter Summary Entrepreneurial pro
Page 106 and 107:
Chapter 8: Production: Entrepreneur
Page 108 and 109:
Page 110 and 111:
Page 112 and 113:
Page 114 and 115:
Page 116:
Page 119 and 120:
108 Study Guide to Man, Economy, an
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 132 and 133:
Chapter Summary Consumer preference
Page 134 and 135:
Chapter 10: Monopoly and Competitio
Page 136 and 137:
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Chapter Summary Like all goods, the
Page 148 and 149:
Chapter 11: Money and Its Purchasin
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163: Chapter 11: Money and Its Purchasin
Page 164: Chapter 11: Money and Its Purchasin
Page 167 and 168: 156 Study Guide to Man, Economy, an
Page 186 and 187: Chapter Summary Economists often ta
Page 188 and 189: Chapter 1: Defense Services on the
Page 190 and 191: Chapter 1: Defense Services on the
Page 192 and 193: Chapter Outline 1. Types of Interve
Page 194 and 195: Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Interven
Page 196 and 197: Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Interven
Page 198: Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Interven
Page 216 and 217: Chapter 4: Binary Intervention: Tax
Page 230 and 231: Chapter Summary There has been litt
Page 232 and 233: Chapter 5: Binary Intervention: Gov
Page 238: Chapter 5: Binary Intervention: Gov
Page 260 and 261: Apriorism, 1, 9 Ability-to-pay prin
Page 262 and 263: Index 251 Equilibrium, 47, 104 macr
Page 264 and 265:
Index 253 Medium of exchange, 27, 3
Page 266 and 267:
Index 255 See also Economy, Evenly
show all

Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?