markjgsmith

Matt Odell and Marty Bent on zero taxes

2024-10-27 10:24:00 +07:00 by Mark Smith

Marty and Matt get into the topic of taxes following a pretty great Rabbit Hole Recap Episode #328. On the topic of simplification of the tax system, i.e. the Herman Kane '999 tax plan' [1:29:25]:

Matt Odell: I will say, I strongly support no taxes. No taxes, tariffs only, and just debase the fucking currency. Just print print print plus tariffs, no other taxes. It’d be great from a privacy perspective, because all other taxes rely on a surveillance state to enforce them, but not tariffs, you just have to spy on chinese / mexican / canadian / european / whatever imports, but no spying on the actual end user. Tariff the hell out of it, and just take away all taxes. I will say there is absolutely zero chance that happens.

Marty Bent: Jesus please, if you are listening :)

I’m not sure I agree entirely with the zero taxes idea, but I thought the point about end user privacy was an extremely strong point, even if it’s just a thought experiment. Even the idea that you could design the entire tax system similar to designing software is a pretty radical idea imho. If you were to re-design it completely, in favour of a system that respects the end user, what would pop out the other end? Maybe a system with such strong foundations would naturally lead to a better environment for everyone. Like progressive enhancement or writting well structured HTML naturally leads to better websites.

It’s a great episode. Lots of current cool bitcoin topics and open source projects covered. Among others:

If you are into bitcoin, crypto and open source development, you’ll likey enjoy it.

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