There is a two-word phrase which is virtually never heard
within the vacuous propaganda machine known as the mainstream media: “wealth
taxation”. There are very obvious reasons for such conceptual censorship.
To begin with, the corporate media is merely one of the
subsidiaries of the financial crime syndicate which readers know as “the
One Bank” . The One Bank exists for one purpose, to steal wealth. Any
form of wealth-taxation would effectively claw back significant amounts of
these ill-gotten gains; therefore, discussion of this concept is verboten.
This is why we have an “income taxation” system, the most
inefficient, complex, and economically destructive form of taxation system
which could be inflicted upon us. We have income taxation for one, and only
one reason: it provides a taxation “free ride” for the Ultra Wealthy, the proprietors
of the One Bank.
How, then, is it possible that Deutsche Bank, one of the
Big Bank tentacles of the One Bank, could have recently and openly suggested
implementing wealth taxation? It is both a putrid and delicious display of
irony.
Our governments have already been bankrupted, and our public
treasuries have been emptied (via the “bank
bail-outs” of 2008). The masses have already been virtually squeezed-dry
of their wealth. Our overall standard
of living has already plummeted by more than half. The Middle Class is virtually
extinct , having devolved into the Working Poor. But the bankers’ masters
are still hungry.
Thus, their psychopathic minions have been encouraged to
dream up new-and-innovative ways to steal more. One form of systemic theft
which has been gaining momentum is “the negative interest rate”: borrowers
literally stealing from lenders (and savers). It is in this context that we
see the two-word phrase which is a “four-letter word” to all bankers: wealth
taxation.
…the ECB and BoJ should move more strongly toward
penalizing savings via negative retail deposit rates or perhaps wealth
taxes .
Here it is necessary to point out the extreme perversity
which is implicit in this suggestion. Why is a Deutsche Bank mouthpiece
suggesting “negative retail deposit rates or perhaps wealth taxes”? The
answer is to (supposedly) stimulate our economies.
Of course, another, obvious way to characterize negative
interest rates on bank deposits is as a tax on bank deposits. That is
why negative interest rates are suggested interchangeably along with wealth
taxation – they are both a form of taxation.
Do you “stimulate” an economy by raising taxes? No (but
with a caveat). Thus any and every time we see a banker, or politician, or
mainstream drone suggesting negative interest rates as a means of
“stimulating our economies” they are lying. It is merely an utterly
absurd pretext to supposedly justify more, naked stealing.
In fact, we already have a general, systemic “tax”
inflicted upon everyone (except the Ultra Wealthy). It’s called inflation.
Every time that corrupt central banks print up a new unit of their fiat
currency funny-money, they create inflation. That is the (correct) definition
of inflation.
Here we get more lies and perversity. The bankers, and central
bankers in particular, lament that we don’t have enough inflation,
because we supposedly need more inflation to “stimulate our economies”. Let’s
put aside the first, obvious lie: the ludicrous/mythical “inflation
rates” fabricated by our corrupt governments. Let’s deal, instead, with
the second lie.
Does inflation “stimulate our economies”? We can answer
that question by simply looking back in time, to when we had lots of
(official) inflation: the 1970s. In the 1970s, did all the inflation created
by our central banks stimulate our economies? No. In fact, it was labeled stagflation,
and it was universally recognized that inflation (like any tax) does not
stimulate our economies . Thus whenever a banker claims that “we need
more inflation”, he/she is also lying.
This brings us to the delicious aspect of Deutsche Bank’s
ironic suggestion. Because the Big Bank’s foot soldiers are being encouraged
to think of more ways to steal-via-taxation, it was only natural that one of
those foot soldiers would eventually blurt out the taboo words “wealth
taxation”. What makes this deliciously ironic is that unlike the tax of
negative interest rates, and unlike the tax of inflation, wealth taxation
would actually serve to stimulate our economies, if we used it to replace
our destructive/inefficient income taxation system. How? Why?
First we require a quick summary of the destructiveness
of income taxation. We officially dwell in “capitalist” economies: nations
whose economic growth is derived from profit. What does income
taxation do? It taxes profit. It taxes it in the form of wages. It taxes it
in the form of dividends and capital gains. It taxes profit in any-and-all
forms from our basic commerce.
In other words, income taxation discourages people
from increasing their incomes. It discourages people from reaping
dividends and capital gains. It discourages people from generating
profits in their business enterprises. This is good for our economies? No.
How do you destroy any capitalist system (or at least cripple it)? Tax
income.
Conversely, by definition, wealth taxation is the
broadest form of taxation in existence: everything is taxed. Because wealth
taxation is all-inclusive, any wealth taxation system would automatically
have a lower tax rate than any other form of taxation system we could
imagine. It is thus less punitive on wages, less punitive on dividends and
capital gains, less punitive on profit. Because it is all-inclusive,
it replaces all these other forms of taxation.
Income taxation is selective taxation. Worse, as
previously noted, it is a form of taxation which automatically under-taxes
individuals at the top of the wealth totem-pole. This is a matter of simple
arithmetic.
For a poor person (someone with little-to-no-wealth),
their annual income is virtually equal to their total wealth. Thus, taxing
income provides the maximum “bite” on the wealth of the poor. For the average
billionaire, his income is (at most) no more than roughly 1% of his total
wealth. Tax that income, even at 100%, and the billionaire hardly notices.
Income taxation is a free ride for those on top. Income
taxation is more and more punitive, the farther you descend on the wealth
totem-pole. Do our societies benefit, as a whole, from providing a free ride
for those on top, light taxation for the rest of the Rich, and extremely
punitive taxation for the majority?
No. As a matter of elementary economics, what do we know
about the wealth of the wealthy, and in particular, the Ultra Wealthy? They
hoard it, almost all of it. Because the Oligarch
Trillionaires have been allowed to steal most of the wealth from our
societies, most of that wealth (our wealth) is now hoarded. It is idle,
useless capital – in a capitalist system. We see how our economies are
literally starving to death from lack of capital, via a U.S. chart which is
familiar to regular readers.
More and more and more wealth is being sucked (illegally)
into the hoards of the Ultra Wealthy, via their Big Bank crime syndicate. Less
and less capital is circulating in our economies. How do we reverse
the economic
starvation of our economies? Tax that stolen wealth .
Unlike the Ultra Wealthy, every time a dollar enters the
hands of a poor person, they spend almost all of it. That stimulates our
economy. Every time a dollar enters the hands of a Middle Class person, they
spend most of it. That stimulates our economies. Every time a dollar enters
the hands of a rich person, they hoard almost all of it. No stimulus.
No benefit for our economies, in any way/shape/form.
As already noted, introducing wealth taxation would
reduce the tax rates for those on the bottom. Conversely, a wealth tax would
(for the first time in the history of our societies) tax the Fat Cats in a
meaningful way. How much of our wealth are the Fat Cats hoarding? How much of
our wealth have they stolen? A single
headline says it all.
U.S. Wealth Inequality – top 0.1% worth as much as the
bottom 90%
This must be restated, in order for the full monstrosity
of this truth to be comprehended. In any average roomful of 1,000 Americans,
the one Fat Cat would hold as much wealth as 900 of those people combined.
That’s a lot of stolen wealth, as certainly the Fat Cat didn’t earn as
much as the other 900 people.
Income taxation fully taxes the wealth of the bottom-90%.
Income taxation doesn’t even touch the equal amount of wealth held by the Fat
Cat. Introducing wealth taxation would thus double the size of the tax base.
For the Fat Cat, this means paying a meaningful level of taxation, for the
first time ever. For the bottom-90%, who would no longer shoulder the tax
burden alone, it means lower taxes.
Lower taxes for the bottom-90% means more dollars in the
hands of the poor. Lower taxes for the bottom-90% means more dollars in the
hands of the Middle Class. That stimulates our economies. Since the stolen
wealth of the Fat Cats just sits in idle hoards, taxing (i.e. liberating)
that stolen wealth would have no detrimental impact on our economies. Wealth
taxation is win/win.
Income taxation destroys our economies. Hidden taxation,
in the form of inflation, destroys our economies. Hidden taxation, in the
form of negative interest rates, destroys our economies. Wealth taxation
(i.e. a flat wealth tax, universally imposed) would stimulate our
economies.
The genie has now been let out of the bottle.
The question is: are any of the bottom-90% even paying attention?
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Jeff Nielson is co-founder and managing partner of Bullion Bulls
Canada; a website which provides precious metals commentary, economic
analysis, and mining information to readers and investors. Jeff originally
came to the precious metals sector as an investor around the middle of last
decade, but with a background in economics and law, he soon decided this
was where he wanted to make the focus of his career. His website is www.bullionbullscanada.com.
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