Immigration, Emigration, Fungible Labour and the Retreat from Progressive Taxation

With emphasis on the US, this chapter explores the role that taxation plays in the movement of people and capital. The chapter addresses the relationship between taxes and retention of capital, including tax incentives for capital investment, shifting tax burdens from capital to labor as progressive taxation wanes, and rules preventing the escape of capital from its current taxing jurisdiction. Next, the discussion moves on to consider how taxes supplement immigration policy to attract capital currently outside the jurisdiction. The chapter then queries whether taxes play any significant role in attracting or retaining skilled labor before identifying how tax trends disadvantage "less desirable", fungible, frequently immigrant labor in response to anti-immigration and anti-immigrant public sentiment. The chapter concludes by observing a relationship between taxation and the unwillingness of societies to help those who culturally, ethnically, racially or religiously differ from the bulk of the membership in the society as that society may change from time to time.