Endowment Taxation?

January 31, 2005 9:56 AM by James W. Fogal (Archive)

This paper by UCLA's Kirk Stark ("Enslaving the Beachcomber: Some Thoughts on the Liberty Ojbections to Endowment Taxation") seems like a good critique of an idea I'd never heard of, which would tax people based not on their income only but on their "earnings capacity."

Comments (3)

Vanmind

Wow. I haven't heard anything that asinine for a while (the original premise that inspired this article).

Let me get this straight: since I "tested" high enough as a youth that my recommended vocation should be medicine, I now must face taxation punishment for my decision to shun such a basket-weaving career?

Don't socialist societies "plan" ahead of time what their children will be forced to do as adults?

Published: January 31, 2005 6:17 PM
billwald

Sound like this is being implemented at the bottom level in Germany - the unemployment system requiring women to work as prostitues to get benefits.

Published: February 1, 2005 11:46 AM
Nathan Shepperd

It's just that the prostitute career track is the only one available, apparently. Just about every attempt you see to get people off benefits misses the real problem - people are unemployed because the jobs aren't actually there. Why? Because regulation has stunted the economy.

Published: February 1, 2005 5:03 PM