Generational Dynamics World View

[Ragnarök_62]

(04-16-2017, 02:56 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(03-01-2017, 11:03 AM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: Well, Warren, maybe you're right and there's a way to "thread the
needle" and devise a border adjustment tax that won't be a total
international disaster like the Smoot-Hawley tax.  But as you might
imagine, I'm way too cynical to expect success.

<snip for brevity>

And so, Warren, maybe you're right that the Border Adjustment Tax,
along with a realignment of corporate taxes, will lead to great
economic growth and solve all our problems, as the Trump
administration hopes.  As for myself, I've seen too much in the past
that I can't unsee.  I would laugh, except that I'm too tired to
laugh.

You do recognize there's a large middle range between "fix everything" and "total international disaster", right?

1. Yeah, I see what ya mean.  There is a middle range wrt "border tax", actually.  It's called a VAT and I'm game if it 's used to replace inane payroll taxes with said VAT for funding SS/and or Medicare. The WTO is A-OK wrt VAT taxes. Payroll taxes are just so 20th century with the 21st century demographics in mind.  John should have no issues with a VAT, since hell, almost every other country has one.   A VAT camel can indeed pass through a needle's eye, man.  The VAT also is hard to escape. Even illegal aliens pay that tax.

2. John is cynical wrt tariffs, though most everyone else but the US uses a "soft tariff", the VAT. So... let's just fund SS with  the VAT [remembering that SS recipients pay the VAT, also] so it's a fair way of balancing the current demographic "hill" we have for a bit. Like you said, the a tax that taxes consumption instead of payrolls can well be thought of as a New Deal 2.0.

3. John's right in that the US just can't stop putting its hand on the hot stove, the MIdeast. We individually know that such interventions are stupid, but collectively, we can't help ourselves. Like a moth drawn to a candle flame, we're just gonna have to get burned yet again.

4. Corporate Taxes.  Those are not efficient.  I'd go for a Tobin tax instead. Tax stuff we want less of, like stawk market churn. Cleaning out all of those tax breaks would also do a lot to help. It's not the top rate that matters so  much as the corporate welfare loopholes. Like, after filing my Oklahoma taxes, there's this dumb "coal credit".  Oklahoma does not need that sort of writeoff considering our budget woes.