Ask HN: If there's no corruption, why can't inflation tax replace all other? - pacavaca
======
danieltillett
Inflation creates short term thinking (spend don’t save). The other downside
is inflation is quite regressive.

Personally if we are going to dream about changing the tax system then
Georgism is the way to go [0], but good luck getting political support.

[0].
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism)

~~~
himlion
The r/georgism subreddit has some interesting articles on the topic.

------
itamarst
Taxes are how the government makes a sovereign money worth something. You need
_dollars_ because you need to pay taxes in _dollars_.

You might want to read some Modern Monetary Theory:
[http://neweconomicperspectives.org/modern-monetary-theory-
pr...](http://neweconomicperspectives.org/modern-monetary-theory-primer.html)

~~~
danieltillett
No what makes sovereign money have value is the threat of violence. The
government could force the population at the end of a gun to accept payment
for the goods and services it wants with no taxation (i.e. give me X and take
this paper token in exchange or you and your family will be shot). Taxation is
just a more polite version of a shakedown.

In practice since most taxation is just used to pay for goods and services the
population wants there is popular support for taxes. In places where taxation
is more outright theft, tax avoidance is rampant.

------
thorin
The tax system has to be very complicated so:

1\. Consultancies, accounting firms and senior government make huge amounts
facilitating it

2\. Enables evasion by the rich and punishment of the poor!

3\. We don't realise how much tax we're paying on stuff

~~~
pacavaca
Right. That's pretty much why I'm asking. From the engineering standpoint it
just doesn't make sense to have all these organization, they're just adding a
huge overhead to the system. However, I agree that it is how it is for a
reason, just trying to understand the driving forces that form the current
taxation system.

------
tmaly
the Fed's ZIRP is an inflation tax. The benefits are just distributed to those
with access to the borrowing window

------
AnimalMuppet
But there is corruption. Any plan that involves changing human nature probably
isn't going to work.

