Why are Inheritance Taxes Unpopular?

There is a puzzle over why inheritance taxes are unpopular relative to other taxes since they are progressive and, assuming they are spent wisely on welfare goods, more people should gain than lose through inheritance tax. I examine four reasons why inheritance tax might be unpopular (a) propaganda, (b) fiscal illusion, (c) framing and developing the latter (d) an evolutionary basis in human reasoning. The latter suggests that the relative popularity of a tax is related to how far the money taxed is already 'in the possession' of the person taxed. Given these reasons I make a suggestion and examine some proposal for making inheritance tax less unpopular.     

论财富文化与核心价值体系

良好的财富文化观是一个国家文明程度的标志之一,然而我国的财富文化现状还不能满足中国特色社会主义建设需要.提出"财富文化"这个概念并着力加强这一建设,就是要通过文化这一载体,以社会主义核心价值体系为引领,传播健康的财富观念,以此调整社会各阶层的心态,化解社会矛盾,促进社会和谐发展.     

《宪法修正案（四）》的四大亮点

宪法修正案(四)是对现行宪法修改最多而且最重要的一次修改,确定“三个代表”重要思想的法律地位、推动“三个文明”协调发展、尊重和保障人权、保护非公有制经济和公民的私有财产是其中的四个最大的亮点,代表了人民的根本利益,反应了人民的意愿,是以民为本、立宪为民在修宪中的具体体现。     

培育居民消费能量 做大经济发展正力

消费对经济发展具有极其重要的作用。要发挥消费对经济发展的正力,需要积极培育居民的消费能量,这正是拉动内需、启动消费的关键所在。基于居民消费影响因素的实证检验,得出居民收入状况是居民消费能量得以释放最大的制约因素。只有增加居民收入,藏富于民,做好社会保障等工作,才能培育居民的消费能量,做大经济发展的正力。     

Health not Wealth: Enlarging the EMU

Economic health not wealth should be the decisive criterion when considering the prospects of the Central and East European (CEE) candidates for EU membership and the capacity of the EU to enlarge. Viewed this way the outlook is promising. The CEE countries are still very poor, compared to most of the existing EU members, but they are also much more dynamic. Growth rates are generally expected to remain around 4-5 per cent in CEE for the foreseeable future, compared to about 2-3 per cent for the EU. This still implies that full catch-up in terms of GDP per capita will take decades, rather than years, but full catch-up is not the relevant criterion if one is concerned about enlargement. Experience in the EU has shown that problems are much more likely to arise from established rich member countries with stagnant economies (Belgium in the 1980s and Germany today) than poor, but more dynamic states (such as Portugal and Ireland today). The fact that most of the so-called 'periphery' is now growing more strongly than the 'core' confirms that EU integration benefits poorer countries even more.     

Global inequality as one of the root causes of the financial crisis: a suggested explanation

Abstract

The global financial crisis was caused because the volume of toxic assets in the financial system had grown to the point where the system could no longer cope. The dominant view among heterodox economists is that this point of critical mass was reached because of various failures in the financial system. This paper puts the accompanying view that the toxic assets were created largely in response to external pressures, a principle source of which was global inequality: while income inequality was an important factor behind the supply of those assets, wealth concentration was a major factor behind the demand for them. The policy implications of this analysis are that income distribution and wealth ownership have to be more equitably structured if global financial crises are to be avoided in the future. This is not to exclude other proposals for making the financial system more transparent and accountable. The point, rather, is that these proposals are insufficient on their own. No matter how radical the re-structuring of the financial system, as long as there remain external pressures on it to create products or to indulge in practices that are harmful to it, such products and practices will continue to be introduced and financial crises will continue to occur.