> They do this not by rigging the tax system so that workers have to pay
> all taxes, as Jon seems to imagine.
Where did I say that workers pay "all" taxes? Workers pay more than they would if there were a properly progressive system.
> (Get real people, higher income taxes would only necessitate higher
> wages, in order to pay the tax, so its no skin off our nose in the
> final analysis.)
Necessitate? And what would "necessitate" higher wages in this system? Wages rise only if the employers are seized by a fit of generosity, or if workers can *make* them rise.
> Instead, what they do is rig the tax system so that, as much as
> possible, workers are fooled into believing that taxes are a bad thing
> for workers. And you've fallen for it hook line and sinker Jon!
*Regressive* taxes (such as the sales tax) are bad for workers. As far as I can see, that's all I've fallen for.
> So no more of this nonsense of which taxes are more equitable. Let the
> capitalists fight out amongst themselves who will pay a fair share of
> taxes. Taxes are a good thing, for the working class, because taxes
> socialise some of the profits and allow the possibility for
> redistributing those taxed profit for the benefit of the working
> class.
>
> But all taxes are ultimately taxes on profits. It is ridiculous to
> fall into the trap of thinking that some taxes are paid by the working
> class.
Taxes are a good thing for everyone, in general, unless one takes the anarchist point of view that no government is needed. Everyone who benefits from government services should share in them; the question is whether the tax system should be progressive, "flat," or regressive.
There are a lot of questions about which services actually benefit workers, and whether workers are paying disproportionally for services which don't benefit them at all, such as supporting imperial capitalism. I don't have time to get into all of that right now, as I am getting ready for a vacation trip. See everyone in a week and a few days.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ A gentleman haranguing on the perfection of our law, and that it was equally open to the poor and the rich, was answered by another, 'So is the London Tavern.' -- "Tom Paine's Jests..." (1794); also attr. to John Horne Tooke (1736-1812) by Hazlitt