tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3628231292297278599.post7157004875355168034..comments2023-08-21T02:20:26.757+12:00Comments on It really is upside down: Inevitable, schminevitablevethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13376500106064052491noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3628231292297278599.post-77667046418046134502012-06-20T09:20:53.555+12:002012-06-20T09:20:53.555+12:00Sorry about the "word verification" crap...Sorry about the "word verification" crap. I've deactivated it now, experimentally. Google claims to have invented spam filtering for comments (not before time), so I'll see how that works instead.<br /><br />France is undercrowded - yes, that's definitely worth something, but I don't see how it affects the central argument. The USA is also underpopulated, as is Australia by some measures (although water is a limiting factor there) and New Zealand (we're precious about our natural environment, but personally I think we could take about 4x our present population before we began to feel cramped - all it really needs is some commonsense in building and town planning).<br /><br />The division of tax brackets is a separate but related question. There's absolutely nothing stopping the UK from introducing a new tax bracket at, say, £500k and taxing it at 70% - the decision not to do that is a policy decision, and it's based largely on the received wisdom that such taxes do more harm than good.vethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13376500106064052491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3628231292297278599.post-22662499315562123162012-06-19T20:01:05.307+12:002012-06-19T20:01:05.307+12:00This isn't a case of "other things being ...This isn't a case of "other things being equal". Some countries have more non-financial things to recommend them than others. European countries have wealth of a long and rich history but suffer from hideous overcrowding; France has the advantage of being much less crowded than most European peers. I'd consider that worth something.<br /><br />More crucially, that top headline rate is something of a red herring in that it only applies above one million Euros. It's not like the UK (especially but not exclusively London) where the top rate (including 76% at £100k) can hit someone not rich enough to buy an average home.<br /><br />p.s. your evil eye test hurts: I've cycled it many times to find something I have a chance of guessing right.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com