taxation Archives – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Taxes, Economic “Development,” and Growth Fetishism — State of the States

February 12, 2026/4 Comments/in David Shreve, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Governance, Ideology, Inequality, Jobs and Employment, Limits to Growth, Poverty, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Wealth, Wellbeing /by Alix Underwood

by David Shreve

Many are beginning to sense that there is a diminishing relationship between increasing gross domestic product (GDP) and broad prosperity or “quality of life.” Environmental perils are a big part of this—from dying oceans and freshwater shortages to extreme weather events and epidemics. People readily feel these changes, even without knowing their true extent. Technological advances notwithstanding, there is little doubt that ongoing “growth” only perpetuates and amplifies such perils.

Paying Taxes with Trophic Money: Watch Out for Environmental Backfires

March 4, 2021/12 Comments/in Brian Czech, Degrowth, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Food and Agriculture, Governance, Monetary Policy, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Trophic Theory of Money /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

I didn’t set out to coin a phrase, but “trophic money” will be far handier than “money derived pursuant to the trophic theory of money.” The trophic theory of money is that money originates via the agricultural surplus that frees the hands for the division of labor into all the other economic activities, most basically manufacturing and services. It’s a theory of money that reflects not only the trophic structure of the economy—with manufacturing and services built upon a base of agriculture and extraction—but the fact that money is meaningless unless we have an agricultural surplus at the trophic base.

Tag Archive for: taxation

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by David Shreve

by Brian Czech