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Why American Workers Pay Twice as Much in Taxes as Wealthy Investors

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Re: Why American Workers Pay Twice as Much in Taxes as Wealthy Investors

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But poor republicans have often a religious obligation to vote republican. So do you vote democrat to get more money and fail your religious obligtation? Or do you vote repblican to fulfill your religious obligation at the cost of some rich guys getting richer? Not all people vote through an economic lens. Many othet lenses exist. Religion is just one of them. You could replace religion with gun rights. Or states rig…

This is why our two-party political system needs to change. It's proven inadequate to reflect the people in a nuanced enough way.

The problem is a strong multiparty system can get fringe elements in power.

We also, need to rank candidates: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ranking-candidate...

Re: Why American Workers Pay Twice as Much in Taxes as Wealthy Investors

#42
post #2

Because politicians sell progressive income taxes as a way to screw the rich, when it actually just screws the upper middle class, since the actual rich don't have jobs to tax the income from.

It's not the progressive tax structure that's the problem, it's the fact that cap gains are taxed at a much lower rate than other forms of income.

capital gains is the leftover of profit after tax. taxing capital gains is taxing profit twice.

in my opinion, for a clean treatment of value taxation, either corporate tax or capital gains tax must go.

Re: Why American Workers Pay Twice as Much in Taxes as Wealthy Investors

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's to encourage money to be invested and also to compensate for the risks.

Yes and we've seen the outcome - top 1% benefits too much, and results in too much concentration of wealth (along with other structural issues).

And the problem with raising taxes on capital gains will be investors moving their holdings to other countries to reduce their taxes. So long as the taxes on capital gains are kept at a comparable rate across countries, this isn't a problem.

Re: Why American Workers Pay Twice as Much in Taxes as Wealthy Investors

#44
post #3

Makes my blood boil reading this, especially how poor republicans who have the most to gain through tax reform are consistently voting against their interest.

Vote. Run for office. Become active in politics. That is the only way these problems get fixed. EDIT: Start small. All politics are local. Run for city council, or some other form of local government. Work towards change. Network. Expand your reach as you become comfortable in your role. My contact info is in my profile if you want a step by step guide.

Don't you need a lot of money to run a successful campaign. And we all know what that means. Which means, selling your soul to local corp.

Re: Why American Workers Pay Twice as Much in Taxes as Wealthy Investors

#45
post #26
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see it that way. When you invest you risk the capital. You might get a return, you might not and therefore the taxation rules should reflect that. The situation as a worker is different. The only risk you take is that you might select a bad company.

Selecting a bad company is a pretty big risk. It may do a lot of damage to your career from which you potentially never can come back. The opportunity cost is pretty high. I don't believe capitalists take more risk or should get preferential tax treatment.

it's not just capitalists who get a lower tax on investment income - it's everyone.

Re: Why American Workers Pay Twice as Much in Taxes as Wealthy Investors

#46
post #2

Because politicians sell progressive income taxes as a way to screw the rich, when it actually just screws the upper middle class, since the actual rich don't have jobs to tax the income from.

Amen, brother. This is why I saw Hilary and Obama as a false flag Democrats. Raise the marginal rates and screw the upper middle class (who basically carry this country) and let their billionaire friends keep their loopholes and lower rates on investment income.

Re: Why American Workers Pay Twice as Much in Taxes as Wealthy Investors

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am confused. If you put your bonus into a corporation, you will have to pay tax twice, the corporate tax and your personal tax. And if your corporation is an LLC, it all flows through to your personal taxes anyway. So, I don't see how you shelter this just by putting into a corporation.

Salaries (and bonuses) are considered expenses for the company and will be tax deductible. I believe the example was that you may as a contractor (with your own company) receive a bonus to your corporation and be able to offset taxes for another 11 months compared to having the bonus paid out personally.

yes, but if you have your own corporation, unless it's an LLC, then you will have to pay corporate tax on that income in addition to personal income. And if it's an LLC, there is no difference.

Re: Why American Workers Pay Twice as Much in Taxes as Wealthy Investors

#49
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Investing 100% of your post-tax income for 20 years is easy? (Which would get you to three million by the way)

I'm saying there are plenty of people making $200k post-tax. Also, 7% annual returns combined with an additional $150k/yr would lead to having $6.5 million like I said.

Fewer than 5% of U.S. households [0] (or about 1.5% of working-age people [1]) bring in $200k per year. This is a big country, so I guess that's still "plenty of people," but it's not ordinary.

[0] https://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Household-Income

[1] https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-earn-200-000+-per-year...

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