52
votes
Is money we make completely taken away by taxes?
No, this will not happen.
Government does not tax people just for 'shits and giggles'. Governments do not hoard money at some pile as a some sort of dragon from a fantasy novel. Taxes are levied so ...
- 54.4k
22
votes
Accepted
Why is bartering uncommon in modern countries?
The main likely reasons why barter is not more common are:
The inconvenience of having to find another party who both offers what you want and wants what you offer.
Even if such a party can be ...
- 8,311
20
votes
Why aren't we seeing carbon taxes in practice?
I think it’s mainly politics. For example, when France tried to implement increases in tax on oil (indirect way of taxing carbon) it led to yellow jacket protest.
As you pointed out it’s easy to ...
- 54.4k
19
votes
Is money we make completely taken away by taxes?
Wind the clock back in the other direction: where did this money come from in the first place? The government issued it. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, etc.
You've also chosen to stop your ...
- 558
16
votes
Why is bartering uncommon in modern countries?
In the countries that I am familiar with (such as Canada), using barter to avoid taxes is definitely illegal. You are required to report the dollar value of the exchange as revenue. It is treated as ...
- 9,852
15
votes
Why aren't we seeing carbon taxes in practice?
It seems that there are many advantages to carbon taxes, including pricing in the environmental cost and generating revenue (that could offset other taxes). So why are we not seeing them in practice, ...
- 309
9
votes
Why can't the Land-Value Tax (in some cases) be passed on to tenants?
Because the supply of land is essentially fixed, land rents depend on what tenants are prepared to pay,
That doesn't make any sense. If more people want to live in a particular place, rents ...
- 1,182
9
votes
Why aren't we seeing carbon taxes in practice?
Just to build up on @1muflon1's (+1) answer:
I'd also add the "axe the tax" campaign in British Columbia back in 2008. The carbon tax there is (or at least was) considered a model example of how to ...
- 911
9
votes
Is money we make completely taken away by taxes?
Your calculation is fundamentally wrong because you are forgetting an important factor - the money that government spends.
In your calculation you seem to think that the 10% the government takes in ...
- 218
8
votes
Accepted
Economic policies to decrease obesity (would they be effective?)
Yes, sugar tax!
This is probably as controversial as tobacco tax was back in the days. If you walk through a supermarket, you will find that half of the food section is food full of sugar. Sugar is ...
- 1,661
8
votes
Accepted
Are spectrum auctions a tax?
Suppose you write some software that you can then freely sell at practically no cost per unit (the wonders of the internet). You want to make as much profit as possible. Since you have almost no per ...
- 11.7k
7
votes
What are taxes for since law forbids printing of money?
"Why I don't hear nobody speaking about such idea?"
Because historical experience says it won't work.
By printing money instead of collecting taxes, what increases is the nominal disposable income....
- 33.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Are sales taxes regressive?
It depends on the definition you want to use. You can define a regressive tax as the wiki says, in which case a sale tax would not match.
But the goal of definition of different class of taxation is ...
- 648
7
votes
Is my logic on taxation for this question legit?
The burden of taxation is shared among suppliers and demanders according to the price elasticities of supply and demand. The more elastic side carries less of the tax burden.
To understand this, note ...
- 6,128
7
votes
Accepted
Why do we use tax brackets?
I think you've misunderstood how the (UK) income tax brackets work. They work differently to how stamp duty used to work.
Stamp duty brackets used to be absolute rates: so when the purchase price ...
- 8,123
6
votes
Economic policies to decrease obesity (would they be effective?)
In any discussion of obesity-related policy, it helps to call out a couple of assumptions:
Assumption: A healthy lifestyle will reduce a person's weight.
Everyone and their brother "knows" this to ...
- 61
6
votes
Why is it said that Sweden has a regressive income tax system?
Excellent question. You can understand this by reading the original study referred in the article. I will try to provide a short explanation here.
Basically the study argues that if you take into ...
- 28.7k
6
votes
Why are there estate taxes after the owner passes away?
From an equality of opportunity perspective, it is desirable to have some taxes on inheritance. This levels the playing field for each generation to some extent. If real estates are exempt from such a ...
- 1,852
6
votes
Economic policies to decrease obesity (would they be effective?)
Pierre Dubois, Rachel Griffith, and Aviv Nevo have a nice and well-executed AER paper where they argue that differences in obesity rates across countries can be due to differences in food consumption ...
- 6,885
6
votes
Does lowering corporate tax rates increase investment or provide some other benefit to a nation?
Cutting corporate taxes is one of the tools of the Trickle-Down Economics (TDE) school of managing economic growth. In a New York Times article in 2012, economist Robert Frank of the Johnson School ...
- 161
6
votes
Accepted
Who really pays transaction taxes like VAT or sales tax?
The issue you are asking about is tax incidence. This Wikipedia entry provides a good introduction. In short: it depends on how easily supply and demand respond to price changes relatively to each ...
- 296
6
votes
Accepted
What at all justifies income taxes (as opposed to sales taxes only)?
There's a fair amount to unpack in the question, so it might be useful to take it step by step, and consider everything from a more abstract, economic theory perspective.
...those who are more ...
- 1,370
6
votes
Why use marginal rather than average tax rates in incentive analysis?
People make decisions based on how the decision will change things. If I work an extra \$1000 worth of time, then I have to pay $\$1000 * \text{marginal tax rate}$ in taxes. The average rate is ...
- 1,182
6
votes
Accepted
Is the government putting a 20% tax on dividends equivalent to the government owning 20% of the company?
Is the government putting a 20% tax on dividends equivalent to the government owning 20% of the company?
No, stock ownership entitles owner control over decision making in the company (via voting on ...
- 54.4k
6
votes
Is money we make completely taken away by taxes?
A distinction must be made, as also other answers suggest, between money and income.
If you speak of money, meaning the amount of money you have at some instant of time, and with which you pay taxes ...
- 3,322
5
votes
Why are there estate taxes after the owner passes away?
It may seem unfair that someone who has already met their tax obligations gets hit with another one after they die. From an economic standpoint, it is very popular.
I'll let this economist article ...
- 3,761
5
votes
What are taxes for since law forbids printing of money?
The current answers correctly point out that financing the government via the printing press would generate inflation. Since inflation is bad, this would be a bad policy.
However, these answers miss ...
- 1,852
5
votes
The United States' position on the Laffer Curve
Question B in the link answers your question: most participants believe that taxable income would not rise enough to offset the tax cut, indicating that they do not believe we are on the wrong side of ...
- 6,374
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible