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Comment by Retric | Hacker News Reader

Just as a factual matter I think everyone can agree with these three statements:

The USSR didn’t actually have economic equality.

The US has drastically lower tax rates for capital gains.

Finally, arguing for equal taxation isn’t arguing for equal pay.

As to my actual argument, I’m saying economic growth is slowed through the economic inefficiency resulting from unequal taxation. The point of economics is to make goods and services people want and capitalism achieves this through investments and exchanges of money. But distorting that feedback loop through taxes unequal taxes on individuals or companies is a distortion. Invest in the wrong things and economic growth stalls.

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> The USSR didn’t actually have economic equality.

More or less it had. Except for privileged commie bosses everyone poor. "Rich" had cars (!) Having noticeable business was prohibited. Selling own potatoes on flea market, or growing chicken and pigs was fine.

> The US has drastically lower tax rates for capital gains.

In Mass. it's 10% to begin with.

> I’m saying economic growth is slowed through the economic inefficiency resulting from unequal taxation.

Not sure about this. Do you have examples when equal taxation helps?

> Except for privileged commie bosses everyone poor.

By modern standards dirt poor, but by historic standards it becomes more nuanced economically if not socially. Most of the world was just shockingly poor until very recently.

As to equality the economy isn’t just the legal economy. A cop accepts a bribe is making more than a clean cop and greasing the wheels of bureaucracy was really common as was a rather extensive black market fed by production being diverted etc. It’s quite consistent how effectively people learn to leverage what they have to get what they want.

> Do you have examples where equal taxation helps.

You can look at tax rates vs long term GDP growth and see trends but economic growth isn’t clear cut. The best example is cases where tax breaks for the wealthy has been harmful is the UK which is still doing alright but had massive advantages from it’s early industrialization and colonies that it quite effectively squandered.

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