Lozza12
Member
Taxation doesn’t cause money to vanish. There’s still the same amount of money in the system. It’s simply a question of more private consumption or more public spending.The chart depicts rising tax revenues to the government over the last 100+ years. Perhaps you can provide the "missing context".
In any event, I guess it gets down to what percentage of the economy you want the government to control? I am sure there is some ideal amount but I tend to believe the private sector overall does a better job than the government. But that's just me.
Public spending creates jobs and demand for goods & services just as much as you buying a new Porsche- just ask all the defence contractors.
Targeted government investment in infrastructure can deliver huge benefits - just look at Eisenhower’s freeways as well as NASA, FEMA, DOA, DOE.
Arguably the South Koreans, Germans and Chinese are better capitalists than the US today because of superior coordination between public and private sectors, including public education. All I see most US corporates doing these days is buying back stock and handing out golden parachutes to their CEOs.
Your chart shows government revenue at equivalent levels to the 1970s and 80s - a period of time in which company taxation was much higher. A disproportionate % of federal revenue is now contributed by personal income taxes.
No wonder the US middle class is feeling squeezed as education and housing costs go up along with indebtedness, but job security goes down as corporates outsource to “low cost” (read exploitable) countries. Capital can now move but labour can’t - what’s good for General Motors (read their shareholders) is no longer good for America.
Such a system will collapse without a rebalancing such as the Green New Deal or will cause the rise of fascism. Fascism is simply corporate oligarchy with a veneer of populism and violence.
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