Re: What if and Why of Zero Taxation

["Schulte-baeuminghaus" <schulte.baeuminghaus@xxxxxxxxx>]

In any tolerable society, everyone must have a right to a job - to play a
part in the society in which he or she resides.
Most people think that a "job" confers on them a role, an identity, a worth,
even though that "job" is often hard and the financial rewards may be small.
He or she has associates through the work he or she does. Work provides a
purpose that might otherwise be lacking.
That doesn't mean that the person who doesn't want to work - because of age,
physical condition or simple mood - must be compelled to work. But the right
to work should be there - must be, in any society that I call acceptable.
It is NOT good enough "to simply distribute access to the things that are
prosperity or the means to obtain those things."
I remember going to New York in 1970, about a year after the Nixon
Administration and the Fed had applied restrictive fiscal and monetary
measures to "fight inflation."
Those measures, of course, only made inflation hugely worse; and they caused
a surge of unemployment. About a million people lost their jobs in a few
months - perhaps more.
I remember seeing people interviewed on TV about the measures. In particular
I remember one woman - representative of many - who was in tears, not
because she had lost any money - "I get as much money as I did before" - but
because she had lost the daily contact with her friends and mates in the
workplace, and -

"Before I was doing something, now I'm doing nothing."

A society that humiliates people by taking away - or failing to give or
allow - purpose in life is a failed society.

As to taxes and full employment, of course tax collections will be or can be
greater if everyone is contributing to payment of taxes than if they are
collecting from the revenue. That means that, ceteris paribus, the rate of
tax can be lower at full employment to finance the same set of government
outlays as before.
We seem to have lost the concept that we had after World War Two that
employment - a role for everyone in the society WHO WANTS ONE - is a
blessing in a multitude of ways.
It is an economic blessing.
It gives us a more tranquil, contented, peaceful society.
It can bring us together more readily in common purposes.
It makes for greater political tranquillity and harmony among the various
income and interest groups.
Don't ever think that your fellow human beings are slothful, selfish,
useless. Perhaps some of us are. Perhaps from time to time all of us are.
But it's not what the vast majority of us want.
If you think people are not worth anything, that's what you'll get - people
who SEEM TO BE not worth having.
You'll get crime, disorder, terrorism and the last thing you'll believe is
that you brought it on yourself.
Offer people a challenge, ask them to do something for their community or
the wider society rather than directly for themselves, and you might be
surprised at how many positive responses you get. Just as one example, I've
been surprised - and delighted - at the response we've had to Victory Over
Want (VOW) in just 23 days.
A challenge to people's good heart and good sense is always worth a try.


James Cumes



---- Original Message -----
From: John O'Donnell <jackodonnell@xxxxxxx>
To: <larson@xxxxxx>
Cc: <pkt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <schulte.baeuminghaus@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2002 2:04 AM
Subject: Re: What if and Why of Zero Taxation


> larson@xxxxxx wrote:
> >
> > Quoting Schulte-baeuminghaus <schulte.baeuminghaus@xxxxxxxxx>:
>
> <<SNIP>>
>
> > > If , by that, you mean that a key objective of a "welfare state or
> > > even welfare system" is full employment, then it would be
> > > difficult to disagree.
> >
> > No. The objective of the welfare state is gradually increasing, evenly
> > distributed prosperity. A necessary, but not sufficient, condition for
> > that is full employment.
>
> No, employment is only an alternative method of distributing
> prosperity, not a necessary one. It is sufficient for the
> distribution of prosperity to simply distribute access to
> the things that are prosperity or the means to obtain those
> things.
>
> > > As for taxes, full employment will usually mean that, ceteris paribus,
> > > taxes will be lower.
>
> Not necessarily so. If taxes are imposed on labor, such as
> with economies that impose a personal income tax, the tax
> collections will be greater, not less, the greater the
> amount of employment.
>
> <<SNIP>>
>
> --
> -- jbod
>
> Tax Privilege, Not People
> ___________________________________________________
> Come visit and see a new economic perspective --
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>            Comments/arguments welcome.
> .