Ask HN: Would our world be better with wage ceiling? - albi_lander
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smt88
Research tends to show that people are happiest (and most innovative) when the
consequences of failure are low and the rewards of success are high.

You could see this in the US for a long time: if you truly failed, you were
protected by bankruptcy and welfare. If you truly succeeded, you could make
enough money that none of your descendants would ever have to work again.
(Bankruptcy is one of the most important reasons for the success of the US, by
the way.)

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internaut
What about a very aggressive inheritance tax?

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smt88
I don't know what effect that would have. I do know that some countries have
very, very high capital gains taxes (30% or more) and no income tax.

The goal is that people who work and provide value are not taxed, and the
wealthy are taxed while their money is doing the work for them (rent-seeking).

That's a great solution to the problem in theory, but it doesn't work very
well in a modern economy. If capital gains taxes are too high, the wealthy
will find ways to shelter their income from them.

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internaut
Yes it's hard to tell what will work in practice.

I'd setup Seasteads with different taxation systems if I had the money, which
of course nobody does.

Still an experimental approach is what's warranted. We wouldn't run a pharma
trail without a control group on millions of people simultaneously.

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internaut
No. Next question please.

Would the world be better off without taxation?

Yes. Yes it would.

If we could produce all the products/services the government needs to produce
using Seniorage our economy would take off like a rocket forever.

Now fight me.

But I'm convinced that that's how you get from the world of Snow Crash to the
Diamond Age. If it's not this, it's something like it.

