A Thane's Taxes...

[jsburbidge]

Ripped from the headlines tonight: the Biden tax proposals include a 3% surtax on anyone earning more than 5 million (USD) per year.

There is an argument, if not for Commonweal levels of, um, levies, then at least for the pre-Thatcher UK where the top brackets were in the 99% category...

Comments

[graydon]

I am fairly sure you haven't missed that in the Commonweal "a thane's taxes" is a euphemism for being executed, rather than taxed. (Admittedly, being executed for trying to get rich.)

If it must be tax I would like to see tax brackets that do steady 10% increases without stopping at 100%. (100% kicks in at 10 times the lesser of the mean or median incomes.)

I would much rather to see a complete lack of faffing around with the tax system and real income and asset caps, with the penalty for exceeding them forced liquidation and being left with effectively nothing.

Laozi talks about how an ideal organization of society leaves people simple and generous, rather than intelligent and cunning, and this may have applicability to the design of tax systems.

[ndrosen]

There is an argument that such high income tax rates will raise very little revenue; of course, some people will support them out of envy.