hi all
what do you think of the idea below? in particular: how would you
determine quantitatively the amount of taxes owed to the state by any given
employer? is income really a clean summary statistic of an employer's (and
anybody's) use of state-provided services and infrastructure?
marcos
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Tax payers subsidize the profits of minimum-wage employers
Workers who earn very low salaries do not pay nearly as much to the state
as they receive services from it. Their children's education, the
maintenance of their neighborhoods, their health care expenses, etc, all of
this is paid by the other tax payers. In the Old South slave owners had to
pay for the expenses of their slaves. Why should that be different
today? Many minimum-wage enterprises, however, are barely profitable so it
would be hard to ask them to foot the expenses their employees cause to the
state. But there are also huge profiteers among minimum-wage employers and
also among those who outsource work to minimum-wage enterprises. These
directly and indirectly subsidized profiteers should be taxed according to
the expenses their minimum-wage workers cause to the state. While it is
defensible that the state subsidizes moderate profit making by minimum-wage
employers since their efforts create jobs, it is a scandal that it
subsidizes the profits of the big-time earners among minimum-wage
employers. The federal government should make sure that these employers
pay for the expenses their employees and their families cause or that they
provide their employees with the services that the employees otherwise
would receive from it or from the states (state-level taxation should be
avoided to avoid lower-tax races between the states). In general,
political forces that are aware of the crucial importance of the American
state for the nation's well-being and greatness, should consider the
immense political and economic potential of creating government programs
and institutions that would allow the state to evaluate and retrieve its
fair share of any profits arising from activities that require a heavy use
of the national infrastructure paid for by all taxpayers. No political
force could oppose the principle that people who make money thanks to
infrastructures and services financed by all taxpayers ought to pay back to
the state correspondingly. Any efforts in this direction would improve the
economy by penalizing stealthily subsidized economic activities and by
compelling employers to look for alternatives to the purportedly overly
expensive services offered by the state. More importantly, efforts in this
direction would make the role of the state more transparent to the voters
and would allow them to understand the basic principles of truly fair and
equitable taxation schemes and let them desire that these principles be
applied transparently and systematically.
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