(OPE-L) Re: taxation and public finance in Marxian literature

["Gerald A. Levy" <Gerald_A_Levy@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Ernesto.

 

>  In the Manifesto  Marx and Engels also proposed a fiscal

> policy based on  "a heavy progressive or graduated income tax".

> Both measures are envisaged as part of a process of building of

> a communist society.

 

Right.  But, so long as capitalist relations of production prevail, what

is the impact of a heavily progressive income tax on the accumulation

of capital?

> It is interesting to note that Engels interpreted progressive taxation

> as embodying the principle "from each according to his ability".

> On the other hand, the public provision of goods at low or zero

> price allocates resources on the ground of the principle "to each

> according to his needs".

 

Perhaps M and/or E miscalculated about _which_ demands can only

be realized after a workers' revolution?  In the _Communist Manifesto_,

free public education for children was also a policy change proposed

after the insurrection, yet (despite recent neo-con efforts at privatization

of the school system, e.g. in India) this demand was already realized

in most capitalist social formations long ago. 

 

In solidarity, Jerry