Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

filtherton · 04-25-2011, 06:51 PM

So we all know that everyone always acts completely rationally based on the perfect information that they have. And that the market self-corrects. And that prices for labor and goods set by the market are always ideal. This is because we all never took more than econ 101.

Based on these premises, a few questions:

Why are income taxes viewed as theft? Clearly, the market sets prices for goods and services at the lowest tolerable cost for whomever has the power in a particular transaction. The market sets your salary and it takes into account your tax rate when it does so. Regardless of what you make per year before taxes, your take home pay is what the market cares about, because that is your salary's real value to you. So, say that the government cuts your tax rate, wouldn't your employer, being fully aware that you're used to working for 80% of the sticker price of your salary then have an incentive to lower your salary? Or to hire new folks at a lower salary with take home pay equal to what yours was before the tax cut? Would the net result be a steady decline in pre-tax salaries? Is this why the average american worker is making less in inflation adjusted $$ than they were 50 years ago?

And shouldn't we automatically discount the opinions of folks in upper tax brackets when they say that raising their taxes will be bad because they have a large economic incentive to convince us that raising their taxes will be bad? It's kind of like asking a five year old whether they've had enough candy. Don't most of the folks (and the corporations who employ them) who get paid to talk about the economy make a nice amount of money doing so? Doesn't an econ 101 understanding of the world require that we assume that they're lying to us whenever they advocate policies which protect their bottom line? Why would you ask the CEO of GE how to improve the economy? He's just going to tell you to invest in GE.

Ooooooh oooooh and wouldn't the natural desire of the oligarchs in charge of the united states be to see our economy more closely resemble the type of third world outfit that they've been shipping american jobs off to? Why do we think these folks have our best interest in mind? The want cheap labor with no worker protections and no environmental regulations.

Does anyone else have questions based on their perfectly adequate econ 101 understanding of the simple economic system that we live in?

04-25-2011, 06:51 PM	#1 (permalink)
filtherton Junkie Location: In the land of ice and snow.	Tax rate effects on salary So we all know that everyone always acts completely rationally based on the perfect information that they have. And that the market self-corrects. And that prices for labor and goods set by the market are always ideal. This is because we all never took more than econ 101. Based on these premises, a few questions: Why are income taxes viewed as theft? Clearly, the market sets prices for goods and services at the lowest tolerable cost for whomever has the power in a particular transaction. The market sets your salary and it takes into account your tax rate when it does so. Regardless of what you make per year before taxes, your take home pay is what the market cares about, because that is your salary's real value to you. So, say that the government cuts your tax rate, wouldn't your employer, being fully aware that you're used to working for 80% of the sticker price of your salary then have an incentive to lower your salary? Or to hire new folks at a lower salary with take home pay equal to what yours was before the tax cut? Would the net result be a steady decline in pre-tax salaries? Is this why the average american worker is making less in inflation adjusted $$ than they were 50 years ago? And shouldn't we automatically discount the opinions of folks in upper tax brackets when they say that raising their taxes will be bad because they have a large economic incentive to convince us that raising their taxes will be bad? It's kind of like asking a five year old whether they've had enough candy. Don't most of the folks (and the corporations who employ them) who get paid to talk about the economy make a nice amount of money doing so? Doesn't an econ 101 understanding of the world require that we assume that they're lying to us whenever they advocate policies which protect their bottom line? Why would you ask the CEO of GE how to improve the economy? He's just going to tell you to invest in GE. Ooooooh oooooh and wouldn't the natural desire of the oligarchs in charge of the united states be to see our economy more closely resemble the type of third world outfit that they've been shipping american jobs off to? Why do we think these folks have our best interest in mind? The want cheap labor with no worker protections and no environmental regulations. Does anyone else have questions based on their perfectly adequate econ 101 understanding of the simple economic system that we live in?