Comment 62876

By drunken monkey (anonymous) | Posted April 30, 2011 at 09:47:40 in reply to Comment 62868

"A Smith" said: "Looking at these numbers, it would appear the government has set tax rates to discourage work and reward poverty."

Adam Smith (the economist) had this to say about "progressive" taxation in book 5 of "An Inquiry into the Nature And Causes of the Wealth of Nations":
"The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. A tax upon house-rents, therefore, would in general fall heaviest upon the rich; and in this sort of inequality there would not, perhaps, be anything very unreasonable. It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion."

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