yes, exactly. hypocrisy is better than actively justifying the evils you won't refrain from committing. 1/

wealthy people determine their own incomes. they decide whether the firm they own will pay dividends, they set the terms of their compensation package. of course when they'll be taxed the marginal dollar at 94% they keep their pay under that threshold. 2/

but that's exactly how high marginal tax rates *work*. the point is not to generate revenue. the point is to keep it out of very wealthy peoples' pockets. 3/

their apologists will argue it's the same difference, they still control the money if they've left it in their firm. if that's the case, why do they fight so hard against these rates? 4/

the shareholder-value revolutionaries of the 1970s advised firms payout to shareholders briskly and in quantity, so that the firm would always be indebted, hungry for new cashflow just to service their loans. 5/

retained earnings, they said, burned a hole in firms' pockets. managers would use the excess funds for nice facilities, less aggressive pricing, higher wages, prestige research labs, things that weren't "efficient" from shareholders' perspective. 6/

of course, all those "inefficiencies" are more valuable from a social perspective than payouts to already wealthy shareholders. 7/

leaving retained earnings in firms where they are contested for by workers, customers, vendors, prestige-seeking managers, internal researchers, and the broader community is how high marginal tax rates do the work we want them to do. /fin