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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   33487 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 19, 2023

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The merging of right-wing populism with capitalism has usually not ended well in the West. It's instead in places like Denmark where the social democrats have embraced immigration restrictionism that such change has been lasting.

Sooner rather than later the white working class understands they're getting the short end of the stick economically and such a realisation will often make these marriages of convenience between mainstream right-wing parties and the populists shaky at best (Wilders' dalliance with Rutte in the Netherlands is a textbook example but there are many others).

Finland has the fortune that its left-wing parties have been less crazy than those in Sweden, so there may be a zeitgeist change even among them in due time.

I'd just add that I find it somewhat interesting that the Nordics, long a place considered hyperprogressive, is now one of the most restrictionist areas of Europe. Sweden was the final piece and Finland is the hammer to the nail. Of course, the Nordics are still very liberal on things like gender and LGBT. A very curious and non-intuitive mix is emerging.

Sweden takes roughly 100 k migrants per year. That is the equivalent of the US taking 3.4 million. We are taking fewer refugees but are being flooded in nearly every other quota. Combine that with almost no migrants getting deported.

The "right wing" economics in Sweden isn't even really right wing, it is kleptocratic. Sweden has extreme taxes on income yet zero inheritance tax, low corporate tax rates and low capital gains tax. We tax productivity to death while rewarding a rentier class. The right wing policy isn't lowering taxes and market solutions. It is to have high taxes on labour so that the government can buy services from companies. So Svensson pays taxes and companies run schools and hospitals, getting paid for each student or treatment. The companies lay off staff, bring in cheap romanian nurses and slash costs. The government bureaucracy is still in control, as it is the government buying the service with a multi-thousand page contract. The public sector is increasingly being managed by venture capital firms that barely pay taxes. Svensson still pays 50+% in taxes. It combines the worst of both systems.

low corporate tax rates and low capital gains tax

Low corporate tax and low capital gains taxes are good, they're encourage people to invest in capital. Having more factories, office buildings, etc. is good. Inheritance tax is tricky imo because on one hand taxing large fortunes going to people who did nothing to earn them directly is good, but on the other hand you're double taxing it- all that wealth was already originally taxed when the person originally earned it.

Probably the best way to target the wealthy is luxury items tax, like charging them big when they actually frivously spend that wealth on stuff like yachts or $10k bottles of wine or anything else that is very expensive but adds little value to wider society. But figuring out what items are a reasonable purchase for a middle class person or a capital investment for a business vs a luxury purchase for an elite is very tricky in practice I think and every prone for loop holes

taxing large fortunes going to people who did nothing to earn them directly is good

I strongly disagree with this. It is no business of the state to decide how anyone spends their money after death. What is the meaningful difference between giving your children $10M when you die versus giving that to a local animal shelter? The animal shelter didn't do anything to "earn" that money either. It's the decedent's money and the only reason the state can take any of it is because the owner isn't around to protest anymore. If you can't do it to people when they're alive and able to complain about it, you shouldn't be able to do it to them when they're dead and can't fight back.

It's good in the sense that any tax can be good. The state taking someone's money while they're alive to fund public necessary projects and services is good in a consequentialist sense. It's theft, but taxing someone's income so the government is able to pay a public school teacher their salary instead of that person buying a new car is good. And I think taxing large fortunes that are going to people who didn't earn them is even better than taxing income. Except for how it'd be double taxed, which does feel unfair.

I don't think there are any easy solutions to optimal taxation.

Probably the best way to target the wealthy is luxury items tax, like charging them big when they actually frivously spend that wealth on stuff like yachts or $10k bottles of wine or anything else that is very expensive but adds little value to wider society.

So soon we forget the story of the ill-fated US 10% luxury tax. tl;dr took down the yacht industry, mildly annoyed the rich.

Planning out smart taxes really isn't easy stuff, I shouldn't be surprised. Maybe just limit it to tariffs on foreign made luxuries? Or what the author suggested and put the luxury tax on already made stuff like old artwork and antiques. That might help solve the tax loop hole where a rich person buys a painting for $1 million, gets a guy to appraise it as worth $2 million a couple years later, then donate it to a charity and get a huge tax write off because it looks like they donated $2 million when they really donated $1 million

That's not a tax loophole, it's fraud. A loophole is a legal, non-fraudulent way to avoid taxes and is typically the result of the state trying to use the tax code to do social engineering.

Of course, the Nordics are still very liberal on things like gender and LGBT.

Eh... I think they all slammed the breaks on transing kids, at least.

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