Re:Are we too busy to enjoy life?
by wdn on Thursday April 30, 2020 @10:53AM
(#23031459)
What we need is rewrite the law to reward saving instead of penalize savings. In the US, there is no incentive to save, because it got penalize first by inflation, then you happen to have a capital gain, dividend or interest on your savings, you get tax again. However, if you get into debt like a mortgage, which lock you in for 30 or more years, you get to deduct your mortgage interest. Property tax is deductible as well.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Are we too busy to enjoy life?
by rrrrrrrrrrrryan on Thursday April 30, 2020 @03:27PM
(#23035046)
Tax policy isn't sexy but it's really at the heart of most of our problems.
Personally, I'd love to see a political push to ease back income taxes and capital gains taxes (why are we disincentivizing working and saving?), and implement either a VAT or a progressive consumption tax instead, which discourages spending beyond one's means.
We could also take away corporate income taxes, and replace them with hefty Pigovian carbon taxes (to offset negative externalities), and land value taxes (as they're non-distortionary).
Re:Are we too busy to enjoy life?
by chameleon_world on Thursday April 30, 2020 @11:14AM
(#23031710)
Are there other countries that have some kind of system like this in place?
I think Canada has the same systems.
Singapore don't penalize saving and you see how competitive they are. More importantly, they have a lot of savings.
Canada has the Tax Free Savings Account, which can be used like a Roth IRA (long-term investing without taxes due at withdrawal) or like a regular savings account. It's an after tax account, but earnings are, as the name says, tax free regardless of type.