Re: Tax and spend!
I must admit that I am no expect on economics but your rough rule of thumb must completely ignore what they spend the tax upon.
In the UK for example the taxes paid for all manner of things including CEGB, BR, BT, HMPO etc we have since sold all these off to people who mostly do not pay taxes here and have all had to pay more for the same service ever since. Also your premise seems to fail to take all the staff training that is still making money albeit for the private sector now.
That £1 of tax invested in infrastructure pays dividends and allows all sorts of new businesses to be created off the back of a not for profit state infrastructure. If they had not collected the tax then all those business would have failed and the loss in job and necessary infrastructure would have cost much more.
Does current economics as a subject make no reference to history at all then? does the money appear from nowhere ?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
