Tag Archives: tax policy

Yves Smith: I think Modern Monetary Theory proponents have made acceptance of their ideas a bit more difficult by not drawing a bright line between their theory, which is a description of how government spending works in a fiat currency system, versus what they believe are resulting sound policy approaches, such as setting the price of labor (a Job Guarantee) rather than the price of money. Some folks seem slow on the uptake. How loud to MMT economists need to shout? (shakes head) Why...

I have a new peer-reviewed journal paper out this morning on a theme many on this blog might be interested in. Tax Research UK Modern Monetary Theory and the Changing Role of Tax in SocietyRichard Murphy | Professor of Practice in International Political Economy at City University, London; Director of Tax Research UK; non-executive director of Cambridge Econometrics, and a member of the Progressive Economy Forum

Tax the rich! That has become a misguided progressive Left mantra. The intention is to maintain public services including health, education and income support which are core issues for progressives. But then the neoliberal indoctrination that has infested this group intervenes. They seem to think the government needs the money of those with lots of it before it can provide essential and progressive public services and fight the climate emergency. They support political parties that set as...

Tax away economic rents accruing from finance, monopoly and monopsony, land, and natural resources.Lars P. Syll’s BlogKnut Wicksell’s principle of just taxationLars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

I am aware that almost anything written on modern monetary theory appears to be contentious, and that there are those who to seek to belittle my own contribution. I should then add that Randy Wray has already written to me about this paper, welcoming it and the contribution it makes to MMT thinking. Those seeking to dismiss it because I wrote it should, then, tread warily I suggest. That said, I am aware that I have raised difficult issues, but I hope without offending too many. Suggesting...

(Photo via Flickr) Guest post by Jeff Mosenkis of Innovations for Poverty Action I realized after I posted it last week that it was my 200th links, which is a nice occasion to acknowledge and thank my colleague Cara Vu, who, despite being one of the busiest people I know, edits them and saves me from self-humiliation on a weekly basis. She catches between 8 and 200 mistakes in every one.And also thanks for reading. I really do appreciate the occasional emails, twitter shout outs, and...

A wealth tax is not needed to "pay for" anything, since the US funds itself directly using currency issuance. That is, the US is a currency issuer rather than a user of currency.  The purpose of taxation is to: control for inflation  discourage taxed behavior  address social needs A wealth tax would address 2 and 3. Regarding 2, the negative behavior being discouraged is rent-seeking and a wealth tax would serve to preempt rent extraction. Regarding 3,  the social need being addressed...

Dean Baker looks at offsets. He doesn't see "taxing the rich" as a good offset. I don't think MMT economists do either, and as far as I know, they have not pushed this proposal. "Taxing the rich" through progressive taxation has another reason. That is, limiting the political power of wealth and reducing inequality. There are good reasons for this – social, political and economic.Some MMT economists have recommend preemption of rent extraction first, with the residual to be addressed...

The period of low demand and low interest rates during the Great Recession has prompted economists to consider new policies to stabilise the business cycle. The ‘zero lower bound’ on nominal interest rates prevented the use of interest rate reductions to stimulate consumption and investment in many developed economies. Researchers have proposed an alternative policy tool, ‘unconventional’ fiscal policy. This is a commitment to raise consumption taxes in the future (Feldstein 2002, Hall...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's simplification of her proposal to hike taxes on the super-rich in a tweet on Tuesday. Walker said he told a group of fifth graders that the policy amounted to their grandmother taking 70% of their $10 pocketmoney. In a viral takedown, Ocasio-Cortez pointed out that the proposed marginal tax rate increase would only apply to the wealthiest Americans. Business Insider Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams 'far-right former...