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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Stathis Papaioannou<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] Single Payer Healthcare<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>On Wed., 29 Mar. 2017 at 3:16 am, spike <<a href="mailto:spike66@att.net">spike66@att.net</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span class=gmailmsg><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>>>…Another observation: it is meaningless to compare socialist countries with capitalist countries, because socialist countries can theoretically raise more funds at the federal level than capitalist governments can. The US government is already very close to the maximum revenue it can generate… spike</span></span><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>>…How? They can increase the income tax to 90% if they want.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>-- <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Stathis Papaioannou<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Ja, suppose it does. Then what happens? Surprise! The revenue goes down, because those who make a lot of money go elsewhere or go out of business. What’s the point, if one is just working for the government?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>There is an optimal tax structure for maximizing government revenue. No one knows for sure what that is, but I can assure you it is nowhere near 90%. It is probably pretty close to where it is now.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></body></html>