Taxation, properly understood, is the mechanism we have for enabling people to pay their part, their fair share, for the services, projects, and infrastructure of which we all necessarily avail ourselves in the course of our daily lives and most certainly in the conducting of our livelihoods, the business and work we in earning our daily bread and supporting our families.
I understand that this view of taxation as “revenue” is so prevalent that politicians simply don’t attempt to convey anything different, but I know that both Warren and Sanders don’t ascribe to it, as I know members of the econ advisor teams of both candidates. Those advisors are well versed in the theory of modern money or Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) that provides a much better understanding of federal finance and the process of money creation that is baked into the Constitution (Article 1: Section 8).
Taxation, while a necessary component of any economy, does not, and cannot, fund spending by the monopoly issuer of the currency. The currency issuer must first spend it into existence prior to collecting (or borrowing) it back. Taxation is what drives the initial “need” of the people to exchange their resources and labor for the government’s currency and then serves as inflation control that allows the issuer to also be the price setter for what it purchases. The government never needs its own currency back to enable it to spend, but it does need us to need its currency.
The demands that will be made on our government in mitigating poverty and combatting climate change cannot be met going forward by adhering to the zero-sum methodology of balanced budgets and debt reduction that have caused recessions and depressions whenever they were attempted with any level of success in the entire history of our economy. It isn’t an ideology. It is just the maths and the current structure of our monetary system properly recognized and ordered.
Perverting the perception of money and its source has been the mainstay of conservatives that has given great advantage to wealthy while keeping us divided and subservient to them. Recognizing that any suffering in this economy that can be mitigated with spending is entirely a political decision and not revenue or economics dependent is the only way to enable a realization of the guarantees of our Constitution and preserving America as a modern nation going forward.
Money is a product of law and government, not something that grows on rich people. Making them irrelevant to our progress is the first step we must take. Taxing them because they have too much money and use it to manipulate our economy and the democratic process should never be conflated with operationally needing their money to spend for the public purpose.
