Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities: Difference between revisions
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:::::Very good point. What if the taxes were placed in Treasury accounts, such as the "social security lockbox" or the other entitlement funds? It can't be impossible to reduce the money supply by increasing the top bracket income tax rate. [[Special:Contributions/99.27.201.226|99.27.201.226]] ([[User talk:99.27.201.226|talk]]) 19:59, 27 March 2010 (UTC)
::::::A government could choose to increase taxes and destroy (or otherwise take out of circulation) the money raised. This would have the same monetary (eventually (dis)inflationary) effect as the Federal Reserve taking money out of circulation by selling bonds. The main difference would be that in the former case, money is taken either from people generally (or in the case of your plan, predominantly high income earners), whereas, in the latter case, it's taken from people who are interested in buying bonds. This distinction might have efficiency and social justice-related side effects. Also, the money may have to be destroyed. If the money is simply placed in a vault, it may not be credibly believed that the government won't spend it eventually. If it is invested (as most typical "social security lockbox" ideas would recommend), it isn't really taken out of the money supply, as it would be transfered to the seller of the investment(s).
::::::To harp on my theme somewhat: monetary policy definitely can be performed by fiscal authorities (governments), but this generally tends to lead to significant non-monetary side effects. The western model of central bank and government interaction with the economy usually attempts to concentrate actions on producing the desired effect with as few side-effects as possible. For example(s), if you want to increase the progressivity of the income distribution, do it by angling marginal tax curve upwards (but keeping total revenue the same). If you want to increase overall taxation (for macroeconomic reasons), slide the whole curve upwards but leave the marginal curve at the same relative angle. If you want to alter the money supply (for purposes of stabilizing growth and/or achieving maximum long-term growth), do it by interacting with a free market. [[User:NByz|NByz]] ([[User talk:NByz|talk]]) 00:54, 28 March 2010 (UTC)
== Allowing someone dearly loved to die for someone else ==
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