In this respect the differences between the USA and the USSR are those of evangelical dinosaurs competing for domination on one small planet: the first deifies Jesus Christ, the other Karl Marx. Neither has much practical interest in what those two sincere and hard-working fellows actually preached.
- Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed:
The Author of Pipi Longstocking, Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren, generates this interesting story.
In 1976, Lindgren learned that because of tax laws requiring her to pay both income tax and employer’s fees, she would effectively be taxed at a rate of 102 percent. Though she was generally a supporter of the principles of socialism, paying more than she actually earned appalled her. And so she published a satirical fairytale, “Pomperipossa in Monismania,” about a children’s book author forced to pay exorbitant taxes, in the Stockholm tabloid Expressen. The satire ignited a furious debate over both the tax laws and the reigning Social Democratic Party. Because of her popularity, people listened to Lindgren. Later that year, the Social Democratic party lost the election, giving up power for the first time in 44 years."
(Vintage News. When the Swedish author of “Pippi Longstocking” had to pay 102% in taxes, she fought the injustice with her best weapon: her writing Jan 4, 2018 E.L. Hamilton)
This got me digging into the economic ideologies at work behind this story.
This is based on "Marginal Taxation" and the idea of tax brackets. The more you earn the higher the tax rate on each bracket of incremental increase in income. Obviously Lindgren achieved a higher margin of income, and entered a bracket where every dollar was taken back to the state, and more, because of the fees. Socialism can be the very equalization force it sets out to be. I'll spare you more critique about the Socialist Economic ideology rabbit trail I followed.
"Marginal tax rates are applied to income in countries with progressive taxation schemes, with incremental increases in income taxed in progressively higher tax brackets.
In economics, one theory is that marginal tax rates will impact the incentive of increased income, meaning that higher marginal tax rates cause individuals to have less incentive to earn more. This is the basis of the Laffer curve theory, which theorizes that population-wide taxable income decreases as a function of the marginal tax rate, making net governmental tax revenues decrease beyond a certain taxation point."-Wikipedia
"One of those foundations is our right to have an opinion or belief that is different from society's orthodoxies, no matter if it's popular, or even correct. That's called freedom of conscience. It's closely related to freedom of speech: having freedom of thought isn't much used if you can't express yourself."
Ezra Levant. Shake Down
"That's the point. It's offensive speech that requires legal protection. If you don't believe in freedom of speech for offense of speech, you don't believe in freedom of speech at all...... But any original thinking on almost any issue is likely to be controversial and offensive to someone, .....
Ezra and I have a higher opinion of Canadians that Agent McGovern and her fellow thought police do. They think you're wee sensitive delicate creatures who need to be protected by the state from anything that might discombobulate you. We think that, as citizens of one of the oldest settled constitutional democracies on the planet, you're perfectly capable of deciding for yourself what you want read. You don't need your opinions monitored by government enforcers, some of whom are incompetent., others of whom are corrupt, and none of whom should have the powers they have."
Mark Steyn. Forward to "Shakedown"
"It is only by believing in God that we can criticize the Government. Once abolish God, and the Government becomes God. The truth is that irreligion is the opium of the people. Wherever the people do not believe in something beyond the world, they will worship the world. But, above all, they worship the strongest thing in the world."
G. K. Chesterton,
Christendom in Dublin
