I think earned income taxes for most people are too high in ...

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  "content": "I think earned income taxes for most people are too high in Germany and that this actively discourages labour and encourages the black market. I pay high income taxes, and always have, and I find it a bit irritating. But I am also aware that the government needs to be financed by _someone_ or _something_. The very wealthy effectively fight all attempts at taxation, and the poor have nothing to tax.\n\nThe same people who complain loudest about taxation also complain loudest about the state owning stakes in income-generating enterprises (such as computer farms, utilities, harbors, factories, hospitals, and Bitcoin mining operations), so it is not clear to me where the money for the government would come from. I 💖 the _idea_ of shrinking the state, but when most of the state is interest payments on the national debt, medical care, and pension promises, I am not exactly sure what we can cut that would be more than homeopathic. (Although, I think we should be cutting off anything excessive or wasteful on principle.) We could cut defense, but I am convinced that defense is the only thing that a state _should_ be doing, so it should be the last thing cut, not the first thing. (Although the defense budget of the USA could probably be significantly smaller.)\n\nThey keep telling us to just cut taxes on the wealthiest and the economy will grow, but we do that and it doesn't grow, and then they say we just have to cut harder next time. Over and over, since the 1990s. It isn't growing because the population is aging and shrinking. Cutting taxes for millionaires and billionaires doesn't change that dynamic. It just means more of the shrinking economy goes to them. People like to claim that Germany's economy is shrinking because of energy costs, but the USA, China, and France have comparatively cheap energy, and that hasn't led to any economic boom. Everyone is sliding into recession together.\n\nI don't even think robot factories will change this dynamic, as the robots aren't building more land or mining more gold. They're producing more sneakers and laptops, but how many sneakers and laptops does your average 50 year-old need? Because that is what the consumer looks like, now. And he has a collection of shoes and a stack of laptops, but can't afford rent. Consumer goods are not scarce; hard assets are.  He doesn't need the shoes that the robot makes; he needs to own the factory.\n\nI am ambivalent about a wealth or inheritance tax. I do see the argument that it is simply _unfair_ to tax work rather than wealth. _Unfairness_ is what people say when they feel a vague sense of injustice, and I think their senses are right. I don't know if it would make much of a dent in the national budget, or even be an own goal, but demoralizing and mocking a nation's populace should simply not be tolerated. You can't remain the sovereign if you let people rob you and then jet off to the Cayman Islands and claim poverty from their new superyacht.",
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