At 03:00 PM 4/25/02 -0700, Wei Dai wrote: > > ... Today it seems that we can cheaply monitor > > the act of paying wages, and so income taxes are feasible, and > > government is larger. > >Robin, why are you proposing to increase tax efficiency, knowing >that it's going to lead to larger government?
If the reason that government gets bigger as taxes become more efficient is that most people have a downward-sloping demand for government, and so "buy" more of it as the price gets lower, then it seems paternalistic of me to keep the price artificially high, just because my demand is less. I'd like to have a reputation as a neutral economic advisor, who will advise people on how to get what they want, even if what they want isn't what I would prefer them to want. For example, I don't care much for sports, and would rather that people attended more to things that I like, which would lower the price for me. But as an economist, I should try to figure out how to make sports markets more efficient, rather than trying to sabotage them so more people will do things I prefer. >Also, labor supply curves tend to bend backwards at high incomes, so >perhaps we should subsidize instead of tax the non-work time of >high-income people? I don't follow this argument. Robin Hanson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hanson.gmu.edu Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444 703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
