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Comment by cdmckay | Hacker News Reader

I love how it's more important to have high economic growth than to pay people a living wage.

What exactly is the alternative that everyone here is suggesting? Lower taxes and the growth will somehow give these people more money? Really? No. It may increase growth, but that money will go to the people on top and the people on the bottom will be exactly where they were.

At least in this case, the money is redistributed to people who need it.

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> Lower taxes and the growth will somehow give these people more money? Really?

Lowering tax rates can actually increase a country's total tax receipts. Having more GDP not only means more stuff per person, but also more stuff to tax.

That said, the goal of a country is not even to maximize its tax receipts in the first place. Taxes are one way that a country achieves its goals. A country's goals are going to be a mixed bag, anything from redistribution wealth to the poor as you've said, to reducing tax burdens on its citizens.

Do we really believe that lowering taxes increases tax receipts ? I don’t think any tax experts believe it anymore. There have been number of examples, like Bush Tax cuts and Kansas tax cuts that didn’t increase tax revenue

In the general sense, which is the sense I meant it, it's obvious. When you tax 100% and 0%, then your tax revenue goes to zero. When you tax 99% and 1%, they're a bit more than zero, but not by much. At some equilibrium, you maximize tax revenue. If the current tax is above that equilibrium, then logically you will increase tax revenue by lowering the tax rate. AKA the Laffer Curve.

If the economy shrinks, everyone will get paid less one way or another. Growth has the opposite effect. You might complain about inequality, but pursuing policies that discourage growth (and maybe lead to a recession) definitely will not help. You can't just dictate higher wages, because all that does is increase the unemployment/underemployment rate.

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