Extract

Reconsiders the proposals to form a Social Endowment Fund and expand it via a hypothecated wealth tax as a whole and considers some details. The division of the proprietary income of the Fund between reinvestment and payment of a social dividend will probably shift toward reinvestment as the Fund becomes more and more the dominant financier in the market economy. This will also be influenced by “business cycle” conditions, as would the use of the Fund to retire the public debt. The impact of the wealth tax on small business is considered. Some shifts from free government provision to efficient pricing of services are quite consistent with the program proposed here. Finally, the abstract determinants of the stability and trends of social systems are reconsidered and the proposal discussed in that light.