Mature Consumption Tax Economy

What happens to an economy when human labour is no longer its principal source of income, taxation or financial security?In Mature Consumption Tax Economy: An Economic Model for a Sustainable Future, Phil Markey explores the long-term consequences of a fundamental change in taxation: moving away from taxing the creation of wealth and towards taxing its final consumption.Building upon the model introduced in The Consumption Tax Economy, this second book looks beyond the initial transition to examine the society and economy that might emerge over the following decades.If artificial intelligence and robotics progressively replace human labour, how will people earn a living? Who will own the machines? And how will governments finance public services?Markey examines a possible answer: an economy in which individuals retain more of their earnings, accumulate productive capital and increasingly derive financial security from ownership rather than continuous employment.The implications extend far beyond taxation. The book investigates how retirement, immigration, social protection, saving, investment and government expenditure might change as financial independence becomes more widespread.It also confronts a larger question: Can an economic system remain prosperous without depending upon perpetual population growth and ever-increasing material consumption?Drawing upon his background in the natural sciences, Markey examines the relationship between economic progress, technological development, finite planetary resources and the sustainable quality of human life.The final part of the book subjects the proposed economic model to a series of demanding tests. What happens if population declines? If capital ownership remains concentrated? If automation advances faster than households can accumulate investments? If increased saving weakens consumption-tax revenue? And when should the transition stop?This is not a prediction of the future or a fixed political timetable. It is an economic hypothesis intended to be examined, challenged and revised wherever the evidence demands.Mature Consumption Tax Economy invites readers to reconsider what an economy should ultimately achieve: not maximum employment, maximum consumption or endless expansion, but greater financial independence, technological progress and a sustainably improving quality of human life.