To what end? "Best" implies towards a certain goal. Is the goal economic growth? Or is it a fair society? Those are very different.

For example, if the goal is a fair society, then we should have a wealth tax, to disincentivize wealth equality. (And an income tax isn't so bad either in).

Having only a consumption tax makes sense if the goal is (only) to reduce consumption.

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rayiner 4 hours ago | parent [-]

The goal is economic growth, which matters more than anything else. Fun fact: in 1900, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world, at about 60% of US GDP per capita: https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/argentina-was-one-o.... Today, Argentina has under 20% of the GDP per capita of the US. The difference is that the U.S. has grown at about 1.7% annually for the past century and change, while Argentina only grew at about 1% annually.

Maybe you're willing to give up 70 basis points in pursuit of a "fairer" society, but that means your grandkids will live in a much poorer society than they'd otherwise live in. This is the trajectory Europe is in currently. Having missed the boat on the Internet, space travel, and now AI, I suspect my grandkids will see a world where people are immigrating from Europe to China the way we see people immigrating from Argentina to the U.S.

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autoexec 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> The goal is economic growth, which matters more than anything else.

That sounds like an argument for human slavery

	▲	OKRainbowKid 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		And is not sustainable with finite and contested resources.
	▲	simianwords 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		False. The consensus is that slavery hurts economic growth.

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dmitrig01 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> The goal is economic growth, which matters more than anything else.

To some people, but not everyone. It doesn't make sense to give unqualified "bests" without these kinds of caveats.

I don't personally share this view. I don't think growth or wealth are inherently good.

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applfanboysbgon an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

GDP per capita is possibly the most worthless, detached-from-reality statistic I've ever seen. Japan has 38% of US GDP per capita; Mississipi, the lowest state, has a significant lead. And yet day-to-day life in Japan is infinitely richer than in even the highest GDP state. A much greater percentage of Japanese people have access to adequate food, housing, and healthcare, with sufficient money left over to enjoy life/hobbies. Perhaps a lower percentage of Japanese people have superyachts. Optimizing for the outcome of a shithole nation where tens of millions are denied access to healthcare, life expectancy is below almost any other developed nation, crime is out of control and the prison population is the highest in the world, etc seems greatly mistaken to me.