The wealthy these days have no honour.
No, they just lack fear. The Athenian ruling class understood that they could be killed if they took things too far. This and that the opinions of Athenian citizens were genuinely important to their political power. Their payment of these taxes is like PR philanthropy we see today.
I like the idea of rich people getting a plaque with a letter telling them they will be taxed at 98%
Fine as a compromise but personally I’d rather abolish such wealth than celebrate it.
I mean, depending on how high the taxes are, this would kind of accomplish that goal…
Tax assumes still having a monetary/economic system with ownership and therefore personal wealth accumulation.
Then the 31st richest will just give away some of his money to stay below the threshold and…
Actually, nevermind. Nothing wrong with this plan, I say bring it on.
Many public feasts were completely or significantly sponsored by the “president” of the moment. Obviously, each one wanted to prove they were the best ever, so they spent lavishly from their own pockets. So much so that a well known election campaign argument was how rich the potential winner was, such that they could sponsor everything.
You’re thinking Rome, not Greece. And it wasn’t the consuls who did this, it was the Aedile, one of the lower rings on the political ladder. This was how they gained favor to rise up the ranks.
You are right. In Athens, it was only required to be rich and, in case of fraudulent use of the city’s funds, the funds would be recouped from the personal patrimony. No direct use. Thanks! I got mixed up
Modern politics have shown to be pay-to-win anyway so it’s nice to know some things haven’t changed since antiquity.
As someone who has worked in donor services, this sounds like a terrible idea. This is how we get little Johnny Turntables Jr to be in charge of all picnic tables built across the country.
Also goes hand in hand with that whole no taxation without representation thing. For examples, you can see nearly all oil rich countries where the basic citizen has to pay little or no taxes, and therefore have little say in how they are governed.
Exactly. Wealthy Romans didn’t just pay taxes. Those are the citizens that had incredible political power, and probably legal impunity.
Yes they paid some tax but had an ability to harvest wealth from the underclass.
Well this is actually Greece rather than Rome, but the point still stands
The idea of workers funding the state is that workers own the state, and everything that comes along with it including the ability to write and enact laws as well as the monopoly on violence. Workers may then own education, the healthcare system, the infrastructure, research institutions, resource extraction and various industries. These conditions are prerequisites for a democracy. (Preconditions, not the realization of.)
This is, or has been, normal in most countries including Europe and the United States. However, in the past couple of decades, the worker-owned state has been dismantled and a monopolistic oligarchy has formed, often working closely together with the bureaucracy of the state.
So essentially the model of parliamentary democracy with taxes on labor has failed, as it allowed other entities to grow stronger than the worker-owned institutions.
The fix isn’t to tax the rich. It is to disallow power to consolidate into opaque institutions. This isn’t something we should regulate, it’s something we should quench.
Porque no los dos?
The rich Athenians wanting to get out of paying could call out a richer person to pay if the richer man wanted to get out of it then they would exchange estates and now the richer man would pay.
If memory serves this is λειτουργία (pardon if I get the Greek wrong; I’ve only ever studied Koine and I’m typing on a phone), which is the root of the concept of “liturgy.” Basically “liturgy” (in a religious ceremonial sense) harkens back to the feasts and festivals that wealthy Grecians were obligated to provide for the benefit of the populace.
We just democratize this
