Liberals, how do you equate higher taxes with a prosperous economy?

A basic economic principle validated over and over again throughout history is: "that which you tax you will get less of." Taxing the most productive individuals will necessarily lead to less income being produced than would otherwise occur. And since government spends money less productively than the private sector, the more that it spends, the less productive will be the overall economy.

That is why worldwide there is an inverse relationship between the % of GDP taken by government and the rate of GDP growth (example, between 1982 and 2007, growth in Europe was about half the rate in the US). Maximizing wealth means maximizing the amount of resources in the private sector -- and specifically those within the private sector who are the most productive. Of course, envy being as old as history itself, there is an inclination to take just the opposite course.

The economic consequences though are significant.

Any tax takes money so it lowers the amount of private spending in the economy but we need them just like imports. For all taxes consider whats done with money, lower other taxes no impact, saved money is good, spent on low income lowers growth and inequality, wasted bad, invested in infrastructure who knows?. Economics makes assumptions that apply less and less as you get richer.

Business people won't stop working just because they make less money, if you make millions as a CEO you already have no need to work to satisfy needs. For example GM employees lowered work hours in response to higher wages. Also the children who inherit the money are less likely to be productive the more money they get for no effort.

The trouble with taxing the rich is that they may leave or use more tax planning. I also disagree with your idea of using GDP growth, only shareholders care, better to use purchasing power parity per person times with inequality measure, the Ginni coefficient to get an accurate picture of how ordinary people are doing. You may surprised!

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.