What LeBron Can Teach You About Economics
15th April 2015
In his first chapter, Tamny argues that taxes are merely “a price placed on work” by the government. To demonstrate how, he doesn’t start with an economist or a chart, but instead with Keith Richards, the lead guitarist of the Rolling Stones. Richards explained that the band decided to leave England because of the high taxes: “We didn’t know if we would make it, but if we didn’t try, what would we do? Sit in England and they’d give us a penny out of every pound we earned.”
Progressive taxes (in England, the United States, and everywhere) are more of an impediment to people who are trying to become wealthy than to those who are already wealthy.
And what happens with all the money the government rakes in? Largely, it is squandered by politicians who want to buy popularity. Rock musicians make wiser use of money — the money they’ve earned — than do politicians who dip into the vast pot of tax dollars taken by force.
Emphasis added – what I’ve been saying for years. The reason why rich people are always saying that their taxes are too low is an attempt to persuade you that the taxes of people who are not yet as rich as they are (but are trying to be) are too low – after all, if a rich person thinks that the government deserves more of his money, nothing stops him from just writing a check … which, of course, the never do.