Partial replacement of the FairTax prebate by a wage subsidy

The proposed FairTax Act (H.R.25/S.155) would replace most U.S. federal taxes, including payroll tax and all forms of income tax, with a retail sales tax. To compensate for the rise in prices of necessities, the legislation provides for an annual... continue reading

Acknowledgment re ‘The mil: 1/1023 of an equal-tempered semitone’

Eight of the twelve intervals mentioned in the above Brief Idea (10.5281/zenodo.16212) were given in 12276ths of an octave, explicitly or implicitly, by Erv Wilson in 1995; see the last two... continue reading

The mil: 1/1023 of an equal-tempered semitone

In musical temperament, intervals are usually stated in cents, i.e. hundredths of a 12-EDO semitone. A more convenient unit would be 1/12276 of an octave, i.e. 1/1023 of a 12-EDO semitone. I call this a mil because it... continue reading

Equitable methods of abolishing PAYG personal income tax

It is argued that the replacement of pay-as-you-go personal income tax ("PAYG tax") by something more efficient (e.g. a land tax or consumption tax) would offend intergenerational equity because retirees no longer pay PAYG tax, and would offend... continue reading

The simple observation by Huygens that disproved Newton's rule for the extraordinary refraction of calcite

Huygens (1629–1695), in his Treatise on Light (1690), explained the double refraction of calcite on the correct hypothesis that the secondary waves for the... continue reading

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