Leisure Inequality
I wanted to blog on this item the other day but was too busy and now everyone has beaten me to it. I guess it is good that we have academic economists to really study this and report back to us what we already know, just to avoid the rare case where our observations would lead us to an impression that is not reflective of the prevailing reality. Nonetheless, James Taranto wryly mocks that this assertion is a revelation by stating "Maybe Because a Lot of Them Don't Have Jobs?" It's true, alot of people who make up "the poor" don't work or work very little and so have more time on their hands. Conversely, alot of people who make up "the rich" are not aristocratic heirs but hardworking entrepreneurs who work tirelessly to make their businesses a success. They do whatever it takes to build the business that often bears their name. They are everything from CEO to maintenance crew, and if work needs to get done late at night or on the weekend, they do it because success will not wait. Thus they have less leisure time. You may know some of these individuals. Or, if you want this explained in a different way, this is how an academic economist would describe it.
posted by Donny Baseball at 9:31 AM
2 Comments:
this is very interesting data. It suggests to me that only the marginal tax rate should be cut, and furthermore, a tax cut (or elimination of tax) for the poor probably is a bad idea if the goal is to maximize tax revenue. And, tax on the poor is probably too low.
You are correct, a small jump in income that jumps people in the 0% tax bracket to the 10% tax bracket is not a good trade. We should not create such a barrier to moving up the income ladder. Flat tax is my preference to remedying this.
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