Talk With Kamal Ergenekon about new taxes - oct 20, 11

11:09	Jude_Connors	Hey
11:12	Jude_Connors	you here kemal_ergenekon?
11:12	Kemal_Ergenekon	hi jude!
11:12	Kemal_Ergenekon	yes
11:13	Jude_Connors	awesome
11:13	Jude_Connors	so let me make sure i understand this... taxes... if you have the time
11:13	Jude_Connors	do you have time?
11:13	Kemal_Ergenekon	Not much but yeah sure
11:14	Kemal_Ergenekon	10-15 mins
11:14	Jude_Connors	so lower income = more money in 2 clickers pockets...
11:14	Kemal_Ergenekon	yes
11:14	Jude_Connors	low import = more choices... less cost of goods
11:14	Kemal_Ergenekon	yes
11:15	Jude_Connors	so why do we tax anything but VAT?
11:15	Jude_Connors	what is the point in having anything over 1% in any other category but VAT?
11:16	Jude_Connors	why did Congress (and Econ Council, apparently) decide raising income was the way to go?
11:16	Kemal_Ergenekon	we want high income tax because
11:16	Kemal_Ergenekon	1) it taxes the 2-clickers (we *want* that)
11:17	Kemal_Ergenekon	2) because to work is a discrete choice, it doesn't reduce economic activity. i.e. it is a tax that doesn't reduce efficiency
11:17	Kemal_Ergenekon	we want non-zero import taxes because:
11:17	Kemal_Ergenekon	1) we can have some revenue out of it
11:17	Kemal_Ergenekon	2) it prevents foreign speculators
11:17	Kemal_Ergenekon	3) I couldn't convince enough people to lower it (people are way more protectionist than I am)
11:18	Kemal_Ergenekon	we want as low VAT as possible, but currently it is the main tax that generates our revenues
11:19	Jude_Connors	ok.
11:19	Jude_Connors	so if YOU could decide the tax structure... what would you say?
11:19	Kemal_Ergenekon	I would say:
11:19	Kemal_Ergenekon	25% income on everything
11:20	Kemal_Ergenekon	5% Import on FRM WRM
11:20	Kemal_Ergenekon	10% Import on Food, Weps
11:20	Kemal_Ergenekon	X VAT on Food
11:20	Kemal_Ergenekon	0.7X VAT on Weps
11:20	Kemal_Ergenekon	or 0.6X
11:21	Kemal_Ergenekon	where X% is such that we hit our daily revenue target
11:21	Kemal_Ergenekon	X is the solution of the problem
11:21	Jude_Connors	ah
11:21	Jude_Connors	ok

11:38	Jude_Connors	one more question if you have time...
11:38	Jude_Connors	how much does the gov gain (or lose) by changing these taxes?
11:42	Kemal_Ergenekon	we aim to keep the government earnings the same, while increasing efficiency
11:43	Kemal_Ergenekon	i.e. ideally the govt would earn the same, whereas the consumers lose less
11:44	Jude_Connors	ok. thanks
11:45	Kemal_Ergenekon	np