[zozbot234]

You can have a functioning safety net and pay for it via a progressive consumption tax. That's actually what most Western countries outside of the U.S. seem to do, broadly speaking. Some countries even tried out a wealth tax, like France - they had to reverse it real quick because the unintended effects were so dismal.

[dlp211]

France/EU is not the United States. There are structural reasons that make a wealth tax virtually impossible to implement in the EU, but aren't present in the US.

[rayiner]

Like?

[dlp211]

That if you lived in France and were subject to the wealth tax, you could simply leave France and no longer be subject to the wealth tax.

[rayiner]

You can easily do this in the U.S. (See, e.g., the wave of corporate inversions that caused U.S. companies to re-incorporate in Canada and the U.K., which often required executive teams to move to those countries.)

The Canadian corporate tax rate is just 15%, and even Trudeau is pursuing aggressive neo-liberal policies. Canada would happily take our billionaires. (So would other English-speaking countries. Ireland, the U.K., and Canada have been the destination for dozens of corporate inversions over the last couple of decades.)

The U.S. is already the least economically free country in the Anglosphere: https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking. Do we really need to test how much we can squander our prosperity by being to the left of countries like France? https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/emmanuel-macron-cont...

Especially when it's unnecessary? Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax, even on paper, will raise a fraction of the revenue that a VAT would. (Which Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., and Australia all have, unlike the wealth tax.)

[dlp211]

America subjects you to tax as long as you remain a US citizen, and we have an exit tax. Simply moving to another country does not absolve one of their burden unlike in the EU.

I don't know what economic freedom means, but the last time I checked, the US is doing just fine in the Capital department.

And a VAT is highly unpopular.

[rayiner]

Giving up US citizenship is pretty easy. “Economic freedom” means a legal and regulatory environment that encourages relatively unfettered economic development. It generally means low taxes on corporations and capital, strong enforcement of property rights, and streamlined regulations. While the US is doing well on that front relative to say Bangladesh, it’s falling behind the other Anglosphere countries (U.K., Canada, New Zealand, Australia).

As to VAT being “unpopular”—that’s a very odd statement. The US is the only OECD country without a VAT. (By contrast, a dozen OECD countries have no taxes at all on long term capital gains.)