Re: WAY OT: Gas-Gouging Greenspan

> >Care to elaborate on those two sentences?
>
> The point of a redistributive tax, like a graduated income tax, is to
> put higher taxes on those with higher incomes. Income is defined, in
> this context, as the sum of consumption and net new savings for the
> year. So the fact that a rich guy creates a job for someone by hiring
> a maid or a gardener simply reflects the fact that he has higher
> consumption than the guy who can't afford a maid or gardener. And, if
> he has higher consumption, he should pay higher taxes under a
> progressive income tax.

That last sentence is the one that I'm asking you to elaborate on. If he
has higher consumption, why should he pay higher taxes? Or, more simply
put, why a progressive income tax? That appears to me to be the crux of the
issue in this thread, aside from the "econ 101" crap.

>
> Now, if the rich guy is running a business, then the cost of hiring an
> employee is deductible and is not an issue under the income tax. Same
> is true, of course, if a middle class person is running a business.

Is it entirely deductable though? When you factor in things like
unemployment taxes and training and facilities costs which aren't entirely
deductable, I don't think it is.


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