How Life Has Changed

Photo: wsilver

I played Life with some grandkids today, a much revised game from what I played with my kids. The paychecks you receive as you move along the board are taxed at a constant marginal tax rate of 50 percent, with an exemption of $10,000 of income.
As such it mirrors fairly closely some flat-tax proposals, except the tax rate is far above what flat-tax advocates would like. The tax system in the game is neutral after the lowest income level, but the property system favors the rich: except for one outlier in the middle range of house values, the expected percentage return on buying houses rises with their purchase price. Perhaps the game is realistic — it seems to favor the already rich!