The economic logic, application, and prospects of wealth taxes /
Wealth taxes hold considerable popular appeal. Proposals to tax accumulated wealth, rather than income alone, demonstrate a straightforward economic logic. Although the strategy looks compelling in theory, how well do wealth taxes work in practice? To answer this question, it helps to ask whether th...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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London :
SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals,
2023.
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| Series: | SAGE business cases.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | Wealth taxes hold considerable popular appeal. Proposals to tax accumulated wealth, rather than income alone, demonstrate a straightforward economic logic. Although the strategy looks compelling in theory, how well do wealth taxes work in practice? To answer this question, it helps to ask whether they will achieve the ends of raising greater revenue and reducing economic inequality for governments opting to impose them.The reforms have much to recommend them. Closing tax loopholes on the supremely wealthy promises to improve the revenues that governments can avail themselves of. In an era of ballooning debt, deficit spending, and dramatic inflation, such a proposal has a built-in audience. Additionally, by reallocating wealth from the topmost earners, the plan holds the potential of reducing economic inequality.While the review above suggests an overwhelming case for rewriting tax law, the lessons from several European countries indicate a host of problems with such a simplified account. So why is it that wealth tax projections often go unrealized? The case study explains where the theory deflates when it encounters the prickly difficulties of executing such a change in law. Students are encouraged to think of alternative means through which the goals of raising revenue and decreasing inequality might be met while avoiding the limitations of the proposals that were once implemented, then largely repealed throughout Europe. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource. |
| ISBN: | 9781529618822 1529618827 |