| [2] |
Nick Hanauer: Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators
Very interesting article written by a super-rich (early investor of Amazon.com) with an "eight-figure income" who provides a good testimony of how wrong trickle down economics is. The crux of the argument is that job creation will only occur if one has both parts of the equation: a middle-class which has money to spend as well as investors who have products to offer. He highlights the fact that the current American tax system primarily benefits the rich and is thus counter-productive to the objective of job creation.
My favorite para is this, which is a great counter-example of trickle down economics:
It’s true that we do spend a lot more than the average family. Yet the one truly expensive line item in our budget is our airplane (which, by the way, was manufactured in France by Dassault Aviation SA), and those annual costs are mostly for fuel (from the Middle East). It’s just crazy to believe that any of this is more beneficial to our economy than hiring more teachers or police officers or investing in our infrastructure.
|
|
|
matt
- 3 months ago (0 replies)
It's interesting to see the super-rich revolt against the tax system. Mr Hanauer sums it up well. What is meant to be a progressive system of taxation ends up being regressive. His cumulative tax rate stands at about 11%.
He also makes an interesting point saying that:
"I can’t buy enough of anything to make up for the fact that millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans can’t buy any new clothes or enjoy any meals out. Or to make up for the decreasing consumption of the tens of millions of middle-class families that are barely squeaking by, buried by spiraling costs and trapped by stagnant or declining wages."
Giving more money to successful investors is a good idea. But we turned that dial out of whack by overstating that "rich people create jobs". Maybe we should say that "rich enough people create jobs" and give more money to the average citizen.
|
The grapevine