> Please, show me how an appropriately set income tax disincentivizes work.
Here's a proof that income tax disincentivizes work:
Would you work an extra hour a week if it were paid at 1000x your normal rate? I confidently assert that you would.
Would you work it for 100x your normal rate? Almost certainly.
10x? Probably.
0.5x? Probably not.
0.01? Almost certainly not!
So, earning more or less than some threshold hourly amount incentivizes or disincentivizes that hour to be worked. This is exactly the effect of income taxation.
Now, I sympathise with people who have worked hard, paid tax on income and bought property. They don't want to, in addition, be charged to own that property. I myself am in the same boat.
But I also sympathise with people who have studied hard and learned skills. They don't want to, in addition, be charged to use those skills!
The only argument I can see for income tax over property tax is "I expected the former but not the latter, so you've violated my expectations". I don't find that argument very convincing.
This only obviously holds locally. If we imagine a world where the only use for money was to bid in an auction for a single good against others subject to the same taxes (and without pre-existing savings), changing these rates shouldn't affect how much I want to work.
I expect that our world does not sufficiently resemble that one for your conclusion to be wrong, but I think we don't get it for free.
Here's a proof that income tax disincentivizes work:
Would you work an extra hour a week if it were paid at 1000x your normal rate? I confidently assert that you would.
Would you work it for 100x your normal rate? Almost certainly.
10x? Probably.
0.5x? Probably not.
0.01? Almost certainly not!
So, earning more or less than some threshold hourly amount incentivizes or disincentivizes that hour to be worked. This is exactly the effect of income taxation.
Now, I sympathise with people who have worked hard, paid tax on income and bought property. They don't want to, in addition, be charged to own that property. I myself am in the same boat.
But I also sympathise with people who have studied hard and learned skills. They don't want to, in addition, be charged to use those skills!
The only argument I can see for income tax over property tax is "I expected the former but not the latter, so you've violated my expectations". I don't find that argument very convincing.