From: GERALD LEVY (gerald_a_levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Wed Jan 09 2008 - 09:27:44 EST
I think Jurriaan raises some interesting questions - even if I'm not totally satisfied with his answers. One concept that is under-recognized by some Marxists is the importance of the *after-tax rate of profit* (and after-tax RRI). Once one recognizes the importance *in practice* of after-tax individual rates of profit then one is better able to comprehend corporate policies in relation to the state (and forms of investment and accounting behavior). I don't really understand, though, about what he sees as wrong - on the most abstract level - with conceiving of taxes paid by corporations as a deduction from total surplus value and a transfer of surplus value (a kind of a quasi-rent paid by capital to the state). Of course, that's - by no means - the end of the story. There is the question about how state expenditures and policies can in turn impact capital accumulation. And, of course, there's the question about how to conceive of taxes paid by the working class. For example, if the *after-tax [disposable] income* of workers goes down as a consequence of increasing taxation, does this change the VLP and the class distribution of wealth? In solidarity, Jerry
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