Which policy sounds more statist to you?

Economics Political Theory
1

Policy A: You must a pay a cent (a penny) to the government each year. Failure to do so will result in your execution.

Policy B: You must pay 60 percent of your income to the government each year. Failure to do so will result in your income tax going up by 5 percent the following year and possible jail time for not more than 6 months.

2

I don’tlike hypotheticals, but I’ll bite on this.

Two ways to look at this:

for myself I would prefer A,

but could I make a social decision with such extreme consequences? I would hope not. Which may lead me to pick B

3

policy B is worse.

You work much harder for the state in Policy B.

One penny is less than one percent of one hour of work all year and what could the state do with only 300 million pennies per year?

4

Are we paying in government zinc pennies? Or copper pennies?

Policy B is more statist. It is easier for everyone to pay and avoid the penalty. Meanwhile Policy B will likely not be fulfilled by many, especially the poor. In terms of victims Policy B is more statist.

5

a. 1 cent one year, who knows what the rate will be next year? the increase could be attached to any unrelated bill

6

Id say B. It would require more resources to keep track of who owed what percent, which would call for a larger state, making it more statist.

A on the other hand would require a person and a means to execute, less resources, smaller state, less statist.

ofcourse defining ‘statist’ based on the size of the state and/or the amount of resources it requires.

7

Policy A is definitely less statist. Moreover, such a low level of tax receipts would result in the almost immediate bankruptcy of government; it’s hard to fund a warfare or welfare state on approximately $3 million annually.

8

That makes it more statist?

9

Oops, I misread the question! Policy B is more statist. My bad!

10

They are both equally statist. One may be more economically costly than the other, but that’s a different question entirely.

11

Policy A reminds me of Singapore. Small state, not a lot of regulation, but the few they have are imposed quite rigorously.