Είναι καλή ιδέα ο φόρος περιουσίας;
Politicians abandoned such taxes because they did not work. The Mirrlees Review, a mammoth repository of good sense about tax policy published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think-tank, and completed in 2011, found that wealth levies “might raise little revenue, and could operate unfairly and inefficiently”. They face numerous problems. Valuing wealth, and therefore the amount of tax to take, is supremely difficult. In response to new levies, the rich have an annoying habit of moving abroad.
και
Economists are aware of the problems such taxes face. A growing number support their reintroduction regardless. “I don’t like wealth taxation, but…there is a good case for an exemption in today’s France,” wrote Erik Fossing Nielsen, formerly of Goldman Sachs, a bank. Olivier Blanchard, formerly the imf’s chief economist, has endorsed a Zucman-style tax, though at a lower rate. Governments will soon have to take painful decisions to close budget deficits, and the necessary measures will probably include cuts to social services and increases in other sorts of taxes. To avoid a new wave of support for populism, or so the thinking goes, politicians will have to convince the public that the rich are sharing the load. A Zucman-style tax, which 86% of the French public say they support, might be the perfect way to do just this.
Ο Economist για τον φόρο περιουσίας. Πώς αμύνονται οι πολιτικοί σε απόψεις δημοφιλείς αλλά επικίνδυνες; Είναι κυνική ή ρεαλίστρια η πρωθυπουργός της Δανίας που είναι πολύ αυστηρή με τη μετανάστευση για να μπορέσει να εφαρμόσει τις υπόλοιπες κοινωνικές πολιτικές της;