One of the biggest problems with Distributism–the idea that economies should not be based on corporations (pure capitalism) or on the State (pure socialism), but on individuals and families–is the question of how to achieve that goal. Frequent commenter R.C. pinned the tail on the donkey when he wrote:
“Is there anything we can do to make the largest corporations smaller, and competition with them easier, in the interests of Subsidiarity, without using anti-Subsidiarist methods which in the long run, by stretching Constitutional norms and expanding the precedent for government intrusion, actually reduce Subsidiarity by consolidating power into the government?”
In other words, what could the government do (theoretically) in order to advance a more Distributist economy without inordinately increasing the power of the State?
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R.C.’s suggestion was a sliding corporate tax. I’d be curious about eliminating the corporate tax altogether and instead implementing a sliding value-added tax (sliding based on the size of the business). Others have suggestted removing all regulations on small businesses under a certain size–an idea I’d be interested in partially implementing, but can’t totally support.
Other ideas?