We don’t need a tax cut. Very few rich people pay a lot of taxes. They hire an accountant to take care of it all. Most taxes are paid by people who take the standard deduction and file a 1040EZ. I’m mostly okay with that.

I have heard from conservatives that in Europe they tax the rich and give it all to the poor and we are just too gol-darned American to do such an immoral thing. That’s from people who believe the sole function of government is to keep rich people rich.

That kind of wealth redistribution isn’t true, though. The middle class in Europe taxes itself for its own benefits. They don’t pay insurance policy premiums because it already comes out of their taxes. With that method, they end up paying around half what we pay (total) for health insurance because the risk is spread out through the entire population. The entire country of France is a single risk pool. The bigger the risk pool the cheaper the health insurance.

It works the same for other “luxuries” like clean water. If clean air/clean water is paid for federally, then the entire country becomes a single risk pool. Houston, with its broad tax base, pays into a big pool of money and they get clean water/air out of the deal. Flint, Michigan would also pay into that pool.

It works the same for child care, for mass transit and all kinds of public goods. The “risk” is spread out over the maximum population and each individual ends up paying less even if they tax themselves and not the rich.

I do think the rich should pay more in taxes. A 15% bite (and almost no rich person pays much more than that) when you are a billionaire isn’t going to disturb a hair on your head. A 15% bite when you are poor can be the difference between living under a roof or under a bridge. That’s why the famous “flat tax” is vicious and cruel.

We do have a lot of wage/growth stagnation right now. We do need to address it somehow. Unlimited growth on a finite planet isn’t going to work. The huge growth of the 50s, 60s and 70s isn’t going to ever be seen again. Back then, our competitors were either devastated by a world war or still living in the Bronze Age. That is no longer the case. It’s easy to compete when India is living in huts and burning cow dung. Now India has electricity, cars, factories and the internet. We can’t economically roll over them anymore.

My answer to the whole thing is a “reverse tax” not financed just by the wealthy but by everyone, including the wealthy. The wealthy would benefit because the middle class would then be able to afford the stuff their factories make. It may or may not prohibit “growth” but it would keep the money moving and circulating.

But you can’t listen to me. I think the main value of government is to promote the general welfare of the entire citizenry. I read the preamble to the constitution too many times when I was young and impressionable. Taking that “general welfare” phrase too seriously turned me into a raving liberal.

Anyway, thank you for this article. It’s not often you get to read something thoughtful about the subject!