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A comment on G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals. Parent comment

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.

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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?

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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 )

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