Dictionaries usually define “capitalism” as a political/economic system in which individuals or corporations are said to have the right to “own” things and therefore get to decide pricing, production and distribution of goods produced or services rendered. There are three different kinds of ownership: 1. The right to the fruits of one’s own labor 2….
Category: tax on wealth
Land & Finite Resources Tax
Unlike the value that people create themselves through labor and investment, land and other natural resources (e.g., minerals, old growth forests, airspace, water, fossil fuels) are in some sense owned by all current and future residents of a community. Some argue that these finite natural resources should be taxed, while leaving the capital improvements (buildings,…
Trade Tariffs
When the USA was first formed, income from trade tariffs provided 95% of the funds needed to run government. By the 1915, only 30% of the Federal budget was provided through trade tariffs, and currently only about 1% of the Federal budget is provided by tariffs. Advocates of trade tariffs say they tend to encourage…
Robbing Peter to pay Paul
Some are against Direct Democracy because they fear that poor people, who outnumber the rich, will vote for more government welfare services for themselves and higher taxes for the rich. Taxes Funding for government activities does not have to be provided by an income tax and was not provided by income tax before 1913. Directly…
Tax on Wall Street
According to Prospect.org, instituting a Financial Speculation Tax could rein in some of the worst excesses of financial markets that too often operate like casinos. By increasing the costs of placing trades, the tax would moderate trading activity generally, but it would most strongly deter short-term trades rather than longer-term investments. Importantly, for example, an…
Corporate Tax
U.S. federal and state governments have imposed one of the world’s highest corporate tax rates. High tax and strict regulations are often too costly for small- and medium-sized businesses, and many corporations merge to reduce costs and make management more efficient. But this results in a greater concentration of power and wealth among the few….
Income Tax on Wages
In 1913, the 16th Amendment was passed, giving the government the right to collect income tax in order to begin paying service fees to the Federal Reserve, which had just taken control of creating U.S. currency from the U.S. Treasury. According to some, the 16th Amendment was directed only at capital gains income and was…
Interest Income Tax
In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was passed giving power to the government to tax capital gains and interest income. According to some, the law was never intended to tax labor (wages or salaries), which at the time were considered an equal exchange of goods/services akin to bartering and were not considered “profit”…
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