Recently read this book, which argues for a progressive consumption tax.  I wanted to share the following paragraph:

“The prevailing framework presumes that people have a natural right to keep the full bounty their talents and efforts command in the labor market.  Given the extent to which incomes rest on public investment financed by taxes, that presumption has never made much sense.  It’s further undercut by accumulating evidence on the profound extent to which the labor market success of even highly talented, hardworking people depends strongly on random events.  And although there may be substantial psychological utility in the common tendency to claim moral credit for one’s own success, the fact remains that even talent and the capacity for hard work are themselves heavily dependent on factors over which we have limited control.”

- Robert Frank

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