Q & A with Austan Goolsbee
Excerpt from this Q&A, emphasis mine:
What kind of progression in marginal tax rates do you think is ideal? There was a big hubbub over the U.K. getting to 50 percent on their top rate; could we be heading there too, and would it be helpful or harmful? — Tucker
There is no “ideal” tax rate in isolation. Among other things, it depends what the government does with the money. Whether we are making key investments versus spending on wasteful programs that don’t work makes a big difference in what you think the tax rate should be.
Dr. Goolsbee, I respectfully disagree. Taking any amount of money higher than what is necessary to maintain a functional federal government, represents a threat to individual liberty. I don’t care what they spend it on.
Tags: freakonomics, Austan Goolsbee, economics, interview, Obama Administration
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.