Re:'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years
by rw on Saturday January 10, 2009 @03:07AM
(#427782)
Do you agree with that quote? Do you think "less distortionary taxation" is a reasonable price to pay for, say, no public grade schools, especially in at-risk communities?
Re:'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years
by bumbledraven on Sunday January 11, 2009 @12:00AM
(#428811)
Absolutely. As far as I can see, the government does everything poorly, especially charity.
http://www.irefeurope.org/col_docs/doc_26_fr.pdf [pdf]
...any given nation would be nicer, with no income- (including capital-gains) or consumption- taxes.
.
if the tax rate tends towards zero percent, its influence on the decisions taken by persons affected tends to be negligible.
...
less taxation, and, in addition, less distortionary taxation is desirable. Several studies even demonstrate that, from the point of view of maximizing economic growth, the long-run optimal taxation is zero. Milesi-Ferretti and Roubini (1994), for instance, show that under very general assumptions the optimal tax burden on labour and capital income is zero. Jones, Manuelli and Rossi (1993b) and Bull (1993) add that even consumption taxes ought to be equal to zero