Paul Sutton @zleap@social.cleverlibre.org

May I just ask the fuckers setting off fireworks in Kilkenny to fucking stop your shitfuckery; you’re scaring the crap out of countless animals, including our Osky.

Dickheads.

#ireland #kilkenny #fireworks

@zleap

That one seems like a hairy one to me. On the one hand alcohol is a bit of a luxury so I get taxing it more than, say, a glass of club soda which is ultimately healthy and you need hydration.

At the same time i suspect the tax here is specifically intended to discourage people from drinking, a sort of punishment tax like we do with gasoline. I'm not so keen on that approach except where the tax is on something harmful. Like with gasoline I'm ok with it because gasoline causes harm and the tax money can be used to repair the damage (though sadly it rarely is but thats another issue)... but drinking alcohol, at least in moderation, is not something that strikes me as something that causes much harm (Again when not abused).

@mathlover @iankenway

Blind People Won the Right to Break Ebook DRM. In 3 Years, They'll Have to Do It Again https://www.wired.com/story/ebooks-drm-blind-accessibility-dmca/

@zleap

"its not about"... lets be careful here. There is what capitalism is about, and ther eis what the ideal form of government is about.

In a true capitalism you wouldnt have progressive taxes. A market isnt free if your penalized for using it successfully. So yes wealth tax is anti-capitalism.

That said a government should not be an ideologically pure capitalism either. While I do beleive capitalism should be a central tenant and most things operate with the intention of creating free markets, there are exceptions to this. A good government in my mind should be mostly capitalistic with a few exceptions.

For me I am a large promoter of a flat income tax (that means no wealth tax) and to shift most of our taxes to sales tax, particularly where luxury items have higher taxes than necessities. The sales tax therefore is still sort of a flat tax in that it isnt effected by your income, but it does mean that people who waste more money on luxuries rather than investments will pay more. Its not exactly capitalism since it discourages luxury purchases and thus not entierly free market. But does lean towards capitalism strongly and I think finds the proper balance.

@mathlover @iankenway

@mathlover

I would argue a wealth tax is directly contrary to healthy capitalism or capitalism at all. It penalizes anyone who makes money, thats the opposite of a free market where making or loosing money is considered natural and desirable for the population.

@iankenway

@freemo
To be clear, I am still undecided on wealth taxes myself.
The point is that few, if any, of the proposals I have heard from Monbiot or most other people in his crowd are even incompatible with at least some form of capitalism, so saying that capitalism itself is the issue rather than the particular form of capitalism seen now (or, as some other than me might argue, specific swathes of policy rather than the entire form of capitalism used) is at best hasty and at worst motivated reasoning.
@iankenway