Tag Archives: Redistribution

Structural unemployment and working poverty are not inevitable

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The plight of structural unemployment and gaggles of working poor, it appears, are here to stay. But are they the inevitable consequence of economic liberalisation?

They are not. If we balance the burden of economic transformation on labor and capital, and strengthen progression, we can have it both: near full employment and open borders.

 

Mindestlohn, DGB, 2009

The sentiment is right, but the policy is flawed.

 

No, the answer is not a minimum wage. No, it’s not protectionism. No, it won’t hurt growth. But yes, it will require fundamental reform, hard work and international cooperation.

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Foundations: benevolent, but undemocratic

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Foundations are booming in Germany and they are frequently cherished as the ideal way to harness private wealth for the common good.

I’m critical about the efficiency, equity and legitimacy of civil society, and I think foundations are a case in point. This tax-exempt, free-roaming and supposedly benevolent capital is subjected to only minimal public accountability and may sometimes reflect a troublingly elitist vision of the common good.

Bertelsmann Stiftung / AG Berlin, via Flickr, originally uploaded by Gertrud K.

Kommandantenhaus, Unter den Linden 1, 10117 Berlin: charity?

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Private property isn’t theft, but neither is taxation

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Peter Sloterdijk has recently called for a radical rethinking of redistribution. He criticized “compulsory taxation” (sic!) as fiscal kleptocracy inadequately degrading its citizens intosubjects of tax laws, rather than encouraging the rich to give. He cited US philanthropy and suggested to promote voluntary donations in lieu of taxes, thinking of (rich) people as givers, not as takers.

via Flickr, originally uploaded by Mindful One

Don’t tax me, I’ll donate?!

Sloterdijk’s hyperliberal argument may be spearheading the kind of uncritical naturalizing of private property that also underlies much of the praise of foundations. Sloterdijk has it wrong when he believes that he doesn’t owe the polity much to be taxed.

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The Perfect Tax

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english

Have you met the perfect tax?

The duty that is both elegant, and fair. The regime that lets our economies grow, and have everyone partake in its fruits. The excise that reconciles efficiency with equity. The set of rules that raises the revenue for a potent polity, and, at the same time, curbs wasteful decadence, to form that more perfect union.

If you haven’t met the perfect tax, let me introduce you: the postpaid progressive consumption tax.

The secret of the perfect tax? It burdens that behavior which is truly wasteful and undesirable: excessive consumption. It leaves all other economic activities unaffected.

Together with a negative income-tax for poor income earners and, possibly, a wealth tax to avoid boundless capital accumulation, it can replace all other redistributive taxes, both on individuals and corporations. Read on for more.

Children's coats, starting at $340. Via flickr, originally uploaded by permanently scatterbrained
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Setting the Goalposts Right

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english

What do we want from policy analysis?
This question recently came up in a discussion on new EU member state policy on poverty and social exclusion.
It’s not a simple question. And it depends an awful lot on what we accept as given.
In many discussions on EU enlargement and related social and tax policy reform, as in the broader context of liberalization, I think we too readily accept as inevitable a (mis)configuration of the international political economy which really is of our own choosing.
Let’s think this over. Read on for more.

Foggy Goalposts, originally uploaded by Boocal.

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