Re:G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals
by Ericson2314 on Saturday June 05, 2021 @04:43PM
(#27408320)
Governments like the US today can borrow money or print it with very few constraints. Taxes are not primarily about raising revenue.
For small, opening (usually developing) economies the matter is different, and they should have more capital controls accordingly.
Re:G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals
by alister on Saturday June 05, 2021 @10:52PM
(#27410366)
> Taxes are not primarily about raising revenue
That’s an intriguing comment. Can you explain further?
Re:G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals
by Infinitesimus on Sunday June 06, 2021 @12:40AM
(#27410831)
I suspect the parent is coming at this from the MMT angle: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory
For states like the USA that print their own currency and enjoy tremendous global demand for their currency, taxes are less about revenue and more about controlling behavior and unemployment outcomes. Some argue that taxes are just a way to force demand for a currency the government has a monopoly on to ensure it always has _some_ value.
(Note: this is a rather polarizing theory and still somewhat young. The US Fed pulled off printing trillions last year and things haven't gone to hell yet do there's something there )
Tax policy isn't set by moral arguments, it's set by government need for revenue which is then tweaked by political pressure groups.
The reason why you can deduct mortgage interest but not rent has nothing to do with fairness, which is undefined and a massively ambiguous term, but because banks, which are the primary beneficiaries of mortgage subsidies, have a lot more political power in Washington than landlords, who would be the primary beneficiaries of national rent subsidies.