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Re:When the Rich Said No to Getting Richer by mrob on Tuesday September 05, 2017 @09:10AM (#15174726)
A flat tax (eg. land tax + sales taxes, which are harder to manipulate than income tax) can be used to fund a universal basic income, which automatically gives you a smooth progressive tax system with no weird breakpoints setting up inefficient incentives.
Re:When the Rich Said No to Getting Richer by cbcoutinho on Tuesday September 05, 2017 @09:23AM (#15174814)
I was under the impression that by flat tax you meant flat income tax. Property taxes are, at least in California, a very local form of taxes that finance local school districts. Using property taxes for something else (ie, to provide UBI for anyone not living in the direct school district) would be a large change in how those funds are distributed.
Re:When the Rich Said No to Getting Richer by mrob on Tuesday September 05, 2017 @09:37AM (#15174926)
The exact mechanism of taxation is an implementation detail. All that's need to qualify as "flat" is that the tax paid must be in fixed proportion to the property or activity being taxed. The only reason I suggested other taxes is because precisely defining "income" in such a way that taxpayers can't manipulate it to their advantage is difficult.
Re:When the Rich Said No to Getting Richer by naravara on Tuesday September 05, 2017 @10:23AM (#15175456)
Oh so all we need to do is eliminate the principle of Federalism and govern the entire country as one large state then?