PetjaY comments on Free to Optimize - Less Wrong

25 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 02 January 2009 01:41AM

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Comment author: pnrjulius 06 June 2012 08:32:01PM *  1 point [-]

I mean, think about it; what's the best possible tax code? It takes about a page:

  • A list of tax-brackets, linked to the GDP deflator, and their (progressive) rates; e.g. "Under $5k: no tax; $5k-$1k: 10%; $10k-$20k: 15%; $20k-$40k: 20%; $40k-$80k: 25%; $80k-$160k: 30%; $160k-$320k: 35%; over $320k: 40%"

  • A list of important deductions, such as charitable donation and capital loss

And... that's about it frankly. This would raise revenue in a simple and fair way, and effectively eliminate the tax-filing and tax-compliance industry. And we could do it tomorrow by an act of Congress. But we won't.

Comment author: PetjaY 08 November 2015 09:22:37AM 0 points [-]

I hope you mean taxing additional income that much, otherwise earning 40k$ instead of 1$ less would make you pay 40k$(25%-20%)=2000$ more in taxes, which means people would have to start checking how much they´ve earned when closing to yearend, and sometimes working less (or asking for less pay) to not go to the next bracket. Why not just use a function? Like, tax rate=lesser of: 0.25earnings,40% or something like that. My personal favourite is basic income+flat tax rate though.

Comment author: Good_Burning_Plastic 08 November 2015 10:16:27AM 0 points [-]

I hope you mean taxing additional income that much

That's what tax brackets mean.

Comment author: Vaniver 09 November 2015 03:06:27PM *  2 points [-] 
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