Neochartalists (“MMTers”) have a strange political positions. Although many of their proposals can be left-leaning, some of their proposals are highly right-wing. So Warren Mosler argues for removal of most taxes for example.
In a recent “webinar”, Monetary Finance In The Age Of Corona Virus: MMT And The Green New Deal, Stephanie Kelton is seen making similar rhetoric.
The irony is that she has been an advisor to Bernie Sanders, the politician who has proposed large increases on taxes on the rich and has even said that billionaires shouldn’t exist (i.e., nobody should have a net worth above $1 bn).
Roughly, her argument is that the super-rich’s expenditure as a proportion of income and wealth is less than the poor and if the US economy has full employment and the US Congress wants to do additional spending it will have to raise taxes to offset the demand rise due to the additional expenditure. But matching $-for-$ doesn’t help, as billionaires only a small fraction of their income and wealth.
But this is a ridiculous argument. Taxes can be calibrated so the government expenditure rise can be matched $-for-$ with a fall in the super-rich’s expenditure. So if the US government wants to spend $1 additionally, it can calculate how much billionaires need to be taxed so that their expenditure falls by $1.