We feel that there is something wrong with taxing our superrich until the pips squeak so much that further taxation reduces the number of pips. And we feel this for two reasons, both of them set out more than two centuries ago by Adam Smith – not in his most famous work, The Wealth of Nations, but in his far less discussed book The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
其中的功利经济逻辑是显然的。但我们大部分人可能会拒绝接受戴蒙德和萨伊兹的结论。我们觉得，对最富阶层征税总有点不正道，，除非加税会让哔哔作响的征税系统安静下来。我们之所以会有这样的感觉，原因有二，这两个原因亚当·斯密在200年前就阐明了——并非在其名著《国富论》，而是在较少提及的《道德情操论》中。