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Full Idea
The European conquest of the world was increasingly financed through credit rather than taxes. …Nobody wants to pay taxes, but everyone is happy to invest.
Gist of Idea
Financing is increasingly through credit rather than taxes; people prefer investing to taxation
Source
Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens: brief history of humankind [2014], 16 'Columbus')
Book Ref
Harari,Yuval Noah: 'Sapiens: a brief history of Humankind' [Vintage 2014], p.353
A Reaction
This is presumably the mechanism that drives the unstoppable increase of the gulf between the rich and the poor in modern times. With investment, the rich get richer.
| 19899 | The consent of the people is essential for any tax [Locke] |
| 19836 | The amount of taxation doesn't matter, if it quickly circulates back to the citizens [Rousseau] |
| 19860 | Everyone must contribute to the state's power and administration, in just proportion [Mirabeau/committee] |
| 18639 | If we assess what people would buy in an imaginary insurance market, our taxes could copy it [Dworkin, by Kymlicka] |
| 20684 | Financing is increasingly through credit rather than taxes; people prefer investing to taxation [Harari] |