Two figures are relentlessly increasing in the US: The budget deficit, which will reach staggering 1500 billion dollars in 2011and the benefits of oil companies, helped by federal tax-breaks of some 20 billions per year. On the one hand the oil industry causes huge environmental and societal risks (who still remembers and cares about the…
Tag Archive: Tax
Wealth Distribution – Citizens Misjudge Reality
Asking Americans about the real and the desired distribution of wealth (how much of total wealth are/should be owned by the richest 20% of citizens) reveals some interesting perceptions. On average it was estimated that the richest fifth of the population owns 59% of total wealth. Yet, in the same study, participants indicate that ideally,…
Taxes – Every 10th Dollas Goes to the Consultants
New figures on the US tax system. I already wrote about it but this is again absolutely noteworthy. For filing them, US tax payers invest 6 billion hours (250 million working days, 35 million weeks or 8.9 million months, employing 800’000 full time very good paid consultants and paying 162 billion dollars which equals 11%…
Taxes – The Trickle-Down-Myth
Myths are when people irrationally believe in something that isn’t real. An example from the tax-economy is the trickle-down-effect. In simple terms, the trickle-down-effect is when rich people invest money that they don’t pay as taxes, in the economy, which then creates as least as many jobs, as if the state had collected that money…
British Education – Taxing Academics Instead of Charging Students
Facing massive budget cuts, England’s administration gets creative. Instead of further increasing university fees – already the highest in Europe – the ministry of education is thinking about radically changing the system, eliminating fees altogether and introducing a life-long university tax for successful graduates. Like this, socially disadvantaged students could study much more easily, high-income…
Tax-System – Nuisance Without Hope of Reform
On April 15 US-citizens had to declare their taxes. Apparently a very complicated endeavor – the tax code encompasses 70’000 pages and US society spends 7.6 billion hours (both paid and unpaid) to get the declaration right (or wrong as cynics might add). This time equivalents to almost 4 million people working year round –…
