Category Tax
English student loans are a weirdly designed tax
Despite being called ‘tuition fees’, the system of financing university education in England operates more like an extra income tax on graduates. For most students, the government pays universities up front, and then charges the student an additional 9% of any income above a threshold of £25,725 a year along with income tax and national […]
Does it matter whether rich people really like money?
Responding to the ongoing debate among economists about Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal of a 70% tax rate on the very richest Americans, Chris Dillow says: “I’ve never been comfortable with the marginal utility argument for high top tax rates. One reason why the rich are rich is that they value an additional dollar highly”. I […]
In praise of Britain’s tax system
A thought occurred to me listening to the discussion of value added tax on Vox’s the Weeds podcast this week: how lucky I am that I have to spend so little time thinking about paying tax. I’m not poor or financially insecure enough to have to scrutinise each pay slip and watch the money into […]
Social Problems Are Like Maths 