Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

"Taxation is entirely about raising money."

I hope that it is interesting and noteworthy for you to learn that many, many smart and thoughtful economists do not agree with that. In fact, they strongly disagree.

Current thinking in modern economics - specifically in MMT[1] - is that money is created by loans and destroyed by taxes.

Which is to say, the government (provided it is a sovereign issuer of its own debts, like the US or the EU) has no particular use for revenues since they can just create whatever money they need. What is actually happening when money is taxed is that it is, effectively, destroyed.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Monetary_Theory



> Current thinking in modern economics - specifically in MMT

Modern economists by and large do not subscribe to MMT. It has about as much support amongst academic economists as climate change denial.


While MMT holds that taxes can reduce the money supply, it does deny that taxes raise money for the state.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: