[{"id":165,"title":"Partial replacement of the FairTax prebate by a wage subsidy","sha":"2dba1ecd29b4f280cb145d48e5f42903","user_id":480,"state":"published","body":"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 \"prebate\" of a fixed amount per legally resident adult, plus a fixed amount per dependent child.\r\n\r\nSome critics object to the prebate on the ground that it is an unconditional handout to able-bodied people of working age. This objection (whatever its merits or demerits) can be overcome as follows: for a person who is capable of working, make the prebate payable not to that person, but to any employer who hires that person at a legal wage (with a pro-rata prebate for part-time employment). Thus the prebate would become a wage subsidy, defendable as a Pigovian response to the social cost of unemployment.\r\n\r\nDue to competition, the wage subsidy would be passed on through some combination of lower prices, higher wages, and more jobs. All three modes would help to compensate working people for the sales tax. The first (lower prices) would reduce the required compensation for both working and non-working people.","created_at":"2015-05-25T09:50:57.944Z","updated_at":"2015-05-26T06:00:42.665Z","zenodo_id":30223,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17925","subject":null,"tags":["economics","taxation","consumption tax","basic income","negative payroll tax","fiscal devaluation","fairtax"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":126,"title":"Acknowledgment re \u0026lsquo;The mil: 1/1023 of an equal-tempered semitone\u0026rsquo;","sha":"db017aafc9ef680d0549e46e25aa8964","user_id":480,"state":"published","body":"Eight of the twelve intervals mentioned in the above Brief Idea (\u003ca href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16212\"\u003e10.5281/zenodo.16212\u003c/a\u003e) were given in 12276ths of an octave, explicitly or implicitly, by Erv Wilson in 1995; see the last two pages of \u003ca href=\"http://anaphoria.com/sieve.PDF\"\u003eanaphoria.com/sieve.PDF\u003c/a\u003e. The latter document, being a scanned manuscript, did not show up in my searches. It was \u003ca href=\"https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TUNING/conversations/messages/106487\"\u003ebrought to my notice\u003c/a\u003e by Kraig Grady.\r\n\r\nThus my original contributions were, at most, calling the unit the mil on account of its size, arguing for its use in preference to the cent, and expressing the lesser diesis, greater diesis, Pythagorean limma, and diaschisma in mils.\r\n\r\nI should also note the following intervals, which I initially omitted due to limited space, and which are close to whole numbers of mils:\r\n\r\n| Interval | mils\r\n| ------- | ----\r\n| Major limma | 942.988\r\n| Small diesis (3125/3072) | 302.95\r\n| Kleisma | 82.94\r\n| 1/4-comma-meantone diatonic semitone \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; | 1198.013\r\n| 1/4-comma-meantone chromatic semitone \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; | 777.981 .","created_at":"2015-03-23T10:58:17.359Z","updated_at":"2015-03-24T06:00:30.597Z","zenodo_id":25401,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16280","subject":null,"tags":["music","tuning","temperament"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":false,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":122,"title":"The mil: 1/1023 of an equal-tempered semitone","sha":"50bd78ca85c5e2523c11f83250e851c3","user_id":480,"state":"published","body":"In musical temperament, intervals are usually stated in \u003ci\u003ecents\u003c/i\u003e, i.e.\u0026nbsp;hundredths of a 12-EDO semitone. A more convenient unit would be 1/12276 of an octave, i.e.\u0026nbsp;1/1023 of a 12-EDO semitone. I\u0026nbsp;call this a \u003ci\u003emil\u003c/i\u003e because it is nearly 1/1000 of a semitone (cf.\u0026nbsp;1KB\u0026#8239;=\u0026#8239;1024\u0026#8239;bytes). Thus the frequency ratio \u003ci\u003ef\u003c/i\u003e\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e/\u003ci\u003ef\u003c/i\u003e\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e is expressed in mils as 12276\u0026#8239;log\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e(\u003ci\u003ef\u003c/i\u003e\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e/\u003ci\u003ef\u003c/i\u003e\u003csub\u003e1\u003c/sub\u003e). Advantages of the mil include: (i)\u0026nbsp;its size is almost self-explanatory; (ii)\u0026nbsp;rounding to the nearest mil is accurate enough for practical purposes; (iii)\u0026nbsp;\u003cem\u003e\u003cb\u003enumerous important intervals are very close to whole numbers of mils\u003c/b\u003e:\u003c/em\u003e\r\n\r\n| Interval | mils\r\n| ------- | ----\r\n| Syntonic comma | 220.009\r\n| Ditonic comma | 239.996\r\n| Schisma | 19.987\r\n| Lesser diesis | 420.03\r\n| Greater diesis | 640.04\r\n| Pythagorean limma | 923.002\r\n| Diaschisma | 200.02\r\n| Just fifth | 7180.9997\r\n| Just major third | 3951.989\r\n| Just minor third | 3229.01\r\n| 31-EDO diatonic semitone (3/31 octave)\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; | 1188*\r\n| 31-EDO chromatic semitone (2/31 octave)\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; | 792*\r\n| \u0026nbsp; |\r\n| * Exact because 1023 is divisible by 31. |\r\n\u003cbr/\u003e\r\n\r\nAt \u003ca href=\"http://xenharmonic.wikispaces.com/\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eXenharmonic\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, the same unit has been named the \u003ca href=\"http://xenharmonic.wikispaces.com/Interval+size+measure\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eprima\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/a\u003e but not (yet) further discussed. It was Brombaugh's \u003ca href=\"http://www.tonalsoft.com/enc/t/tu.aspx\"\u003e\u003ci\u003etemperament-unit\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/a\u003e (tu) that led me to the idea (1\u0026#8239;mil\u0026#8239;\u0026#8776;\u0026#8239;3.00005\u0026#8239;tu).","created_at":"2015-03-20T09:24:05.394Z","updated_at":"2015-03-21T06:01:08.797Z","zenodo_id":25093,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16212","subject":null,"tags":["music","tuning","temperament"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":198,"title":"Equitable methods of abolishing PAYG personal income tax","sha":"ac8047dfeeafa46bfb129b1f559d966a","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"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 vertical equity because higher-income earners would get proportionally larger cuts in PAYG tax.\r\n\r\nThese objections can be avoided by abolishing PAYG tax in such a way that the benefit, as far as possible, is received as \u003cem\u003elower prices\u003c/em\u003e rather than higher after-tax income.\r\n\r\nOne method is to let employers retain withheld PAYG tax or claim it as a credit against other taxes. Another is to reinterpret existing employment contracts by legislation, so that \u003cem\u003enet\u003c/em\u003e wages (not gross wages) are held constant through the transition, pending new contracts under new employment laws for the new tax system. Either method would reduce employers' costs, hence prices, without reducing workers' net wages.\r\n\r\nThe latter method is harder to legislate if more than one legislature is responsible for employment (as is likely in a federal system). But it is preferable in that employers would no longer incur PAYG compliance costs while workers would no longer face the disincentive of marginal tax rates on their wages.","created_at":"2015-08-08T11:50:51.084Z","updated_at":"2015-08-09T06:00:19.724Z","zenodo_id":52054,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.27232","subject":null,"tags":["economics","taxation","income tax","land tax","consumption tax","fiscal devaluation","fairtax"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":false,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null},{"id":342,"title":"The simple observation by Huygens that disproved Newton's rule for the extraordinary refraction of calcite","sha":"5f4062653c5b39d0373518e556653052","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"Huygens (1629\u0026#8211;1695), in his \u003ca href=\"http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14725/14725-h/14725-h.htm\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eTreatise on Light\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/a\u003e (1690), explained the double refraction of calcite on the correct hypothesis that the secondary waves for the \u0026ldquo;extraordinary\u0026rdquo; refraction are \u003cem\u003espheroidal\u003c/em\u003e rather than spherical. His theory explained, \u003ci\u003einter alia\u003c/i\u003e, his simple observation that when a calcite crystal is placed on a horizontal page of text, the ordinary image appears higher than the extraordinary image (Ch.V, \u003ca href=\"http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14725/14725-h/14725-h.htm#Page_81\"\u003eArt.\u0026#8239;39)\u003c/a\u003e.\r\n\r\nNewton, in Qu.\u0026#8239;17 of the Latin edition of his \u003ci\u003eOpticks\u003c/i\u003e (1706), or Qu.\u0026#8239;25 (in \u003ca href=\"http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/diplomatic/NATP00051\"\u003eBk.\u0026#8239;3\u003c/a\u003e) of later English editions, gave his own \u0026lsquo;rule\u0026rsquo; for double refraction. Let a ray from an external point \u003ci\u003eL\u003c/i\u003e strike one face of a calcite crystal at point \u003ci\u003eP\u003c/i\u003e, and be refracted to point \u003ci\u003eO\u003c/i\u003e on the opposite face by the \u003ci\u003eO\u003c/i\u003erdinary refraction, and to point \u003ci\u003eE\u003c/i\u003e on the opposite face by the \u003ci\u003eE\u003c/i\u003extraordinary refraction. According to Newton's rule, the displacement vector \u003ci\u003eOE\u003c/i\u003e does not vary with the direction of the incident ray.\r\n\r\nIt is \u003ca href=\"http://www.grputland.com/2016/10/observation-by-huygens-that-should-have-discredited-newtons-rule.html\"\u003eeasily shown\u003c/a\u003e that if this rule were true, the two text images reported by Huygens would have been at the same height.\r\n\r\nNewton's rule was disproven in 1788. That it had already been disproven by a single qualitative observation, before it was published, seems to have escaped notice.","created_at":"2016-10-24T11:12:09.235Z","updated_at":"2016-10-25T06:00:38.030Z","zenodo_id":162990,"doi":"https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.162990","subject":null,"tags":["optics","history","newton","huygens","birefringence"],"vote_count":0,"view_count":1,"score":0.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":null,"attachment_content_type":null,"attachment_file_size":null,"attachment_updated_at":null}]