From Brad DeLong (via a circuitous chain mentioned in his own post), a further discussion of the need to hike the tax rates of the wealthy. See Brad DeLong, The 70% Solution--Taxing the Rich Department, Dec. 14, 2011.
The superrich command and control so many resources that they are effectively satiated: increasing or decreasing how much wealth they have has no effect on their happiness. So, no matter how large a weight we place on their happiness relative to the happiness of others – whether we regard them as praiseworthy captains of industry who merit their high positions, or as parasitic thieves – we simply cannot do anything to affect it by raising or lowering their tax rates.
The unavoidable implication of this argument is that when we calculate what the tax rate for the superrich will be, we should not consider the effect of changing their tax rate on their happiness, for we know that it is zero. Rather, the key question must be the effect of changing their tax rate on the well-being of the rest of us.
From this simple chain of logic follows the conclusion that we have a moral obligation to tax our superrich at the peak of the Laffer Curve.
So Congress (or at least, those who adhere to the "tax cuts are always the answer" right-wing of the GOP) should pay attention and get tax policy right for the first time since Reagan. We really ought to increase the taxes of the wealthy. They won't feel the pinch anyway (except for the fact that they have all convinced themselves that it would be scandalously unfair if they had to pay taxes along the lines of the taxes under Nixon) and the vast majority of Americans would be benefitted. What's not to like about that?
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