There seems to be an obvious solution to rising inequality: higher taxes. But there’s an inconvenient fact here. The way most advanced, industrial countries have made real gains on inequality is through relatively regressive taxes that fund programs that reduce inequality. In fact, America’s tax system is already unusually progressive by international standards. Our ongoing research suggests that this unusual relationship is not a coincidence.
The countries in northern Europe that have made the biggest strides in reducing economic inequality do not fund their governments through soak-the-rich, steeply progressive taxes. Instead, they have broad-based taxes that ask all workers to contribute to a generous welfare state. Countries with highly progressive taxes that disproportionately hit the rich — like the United States — tend to have the stingiest welfare states.
THE WAY A TAX SYSTEM FIGHTS INEQUALITY ISN’T JUST REDISTRIBUTION
The figure below makes this point clearly, showing that the more progressive a country’s taxes, the less the country does to reduce inequality.
http://www.vox.com/2014/10/8/6946565/progressive-taxes-are-not-the-solution-to-inequality
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Author Steven Johnson talks to the engineer turned philanthropist about the future, technology, ice, capitalism, and optimism.
When interesting people hang out, interesting things tend to happen. So when we found out that Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From andThe Ghost Map was going to sit down and talk to Bill Gates, whom you’ve probably heard of, we thought we’d like to eavesdrop. So we did.
Gates and his eponymous foundation are launching the 10th year of their Grand Challenges initiative—a program that provides grants to projects looking to solve problems like malaria and malnutrition. Johnson’s most recent book, How We Got to Now, tackles the history and future of innovation, and is the basis of a six-part PBS series that launches on the 15th of this month. Over the course of their conversation, Johnson and Gates touched on everything from capitalism to ice. Here’s what they said.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/how-bill-gates-thinks/381287/?single_page=true
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