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My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

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Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#81

Post by zxcvvcxz »

dumbfoundded wrote: post #72

Relevant John Adams quote: I could fill volumes with descriptions of temples and palaces, paintings, sculptures, tapestry, porcelain, etc., etc., etc.—if I could have time. But I could not do this without neglecting my duty. The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences: the art of legislation and administration and negotiation, ought to take place, indeed to exclude in a manner all o…

“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”

Why should we aim to have future generations of artists and leisure enthusiasts, only so the cycle can begin anew?

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#82

Post by isostatic »

user5994461 wrote: post #48
astrodust wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At low levels, which aren't taxed, it's not going to affect anything. At high levels, like giving your kid ten billion dollars, you're making it impractical or impossible for others to advance economically. You're creating a class of people with indestructible inherited wealth that never have to work, that only have to collect interest and rent on the backs of everyone else. That's what inheritance tax and gift taxes…

I don't think so, this certainly has never been effective at that. I'd say that historically billion dollars fortunes got diluted between the 10 children then the next generation, some of whom might actually burn it stupidly very quickly. Otherwise, it's diluted by wars and calamity. However, there are no major disaster in the past decades and the number of children per family have dropped dramatically. It surely bre…

That explains why the Grosvenor Family, a family who've owned the same company for 100 years longer than the united states has been in existent, is so poor.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#83

Post by wowzap »

dumbfoundded wrote: post #72

Relevant John Adams quote: I could fill volumes with descriptions of temples and palaces, paintings, sculptures, tapestry, porcelain, etc., etc., etc.—if I could have time. But I could not do this without neglecting my duty. The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences: the art of legislation and administration and negotiation, ought to take place, indeed to exclude in a manner all o…

It's a beautiful quote and sentiment. But seriously, how unrealistic is that? The bad guys are still going to be here three generations from now and the world is still going to need people with hard skills.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#85

Post by LitFan »

vorpalhex wrote: post #53
clint wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since we're using bad analogies I would argue its more like being offered a piece of delicious candy and its great and you continue to eat the candy and its fine. Eventually you wake up one day and decide you've been gaining too much weight and you try to stop eating the candy but to your surprise, over the past several months or years your brain chemistry has been subtly changed and now your physical well-being and…

Except most people know that heroin isn't like candy. The side effects and consequences of snorting a few lines of cocaine isn't some secret.

Most people think heroin isn't like candy.

The physical dependence is the same, and there are 4 times as many deaths that can be linked to sugar as drugs per year in the US.

The only difference is that heroin is illegal and costs a lot more than candy.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#86

Post by [deleted] »

drblast wrote: post #24

The value of this gift is much greater than then nominal sum. My parents gave me $3000 for the down-payment on my first house, which cost $100k. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford to buy a house. But I bought instead of renting and ended up selling it for $200k years later. That was a big financial win early on and meant I was never in debt again. My financial situation at the time was barely-making-ends-m…

[deleted]

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#87

Post by DoreenMichele »

zxcvvcxz wrote: post #81
dumbfoundded wrote: post #72

Relevant John Adams quote: I could fill volumes with descriptions of temples and palaces, paintings, sculptures, tapestry, porcelain, etc., etc., etc.—if I could have time. But I could not do this without neglecting my duty. The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences: the art of legislation and administration and negotiation, ought to take place, indeed to exclude in a manner all o…

“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.” Why should we aim to have future generations of artists and leisure enthusiasts, only so the cycle can begin anew?

Yes, obviously, we should strive to not improve anything. Having the occasional bright spot punctuating the gloom of history is such a waste of time.

/s

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#88

Post by xkcd-sucks »

ntumlin wrote: post #21

Maybe this isn't the right place to ask, but could someone explain the rationale for taxing gifts within a family? Ignoring the possibility of using it to circumvent an income tax, etc., my initial thought is that if my dad wants to give me $30,001 this year, or even $300,000 this year, that he's already paid taxes on it and it's not the government's business. I feel the same way about inheritance taxes, although tho…

Governments, like most living things, want to be at the top of the power hierarchy. Families are similar organisms that accrue power similarly. Where families are powerful, governments and corporations are weak. So, governments do things to cripple families so they cannot become powerful enough to be dangerous. Retaining wealth across generations is a thing that makes a family powerful.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#89

Post by isostatic »

dragonwriter wrote: post #35
ntumlin wrote: post #21

Maybe this isn't the right place to ask, but could someone explain the rationale for taxing gifts within a family? Ignoring the possibility of using it to circumvent an income tax, etc., my initial thought is that if my dad wants to give me $30,001 this year, or even $300,000 this year, that he's already paid taxes on it and it's not the government's business. I feel the same way about inheritance taxes, although tho…

> Maybe this isn't the right place to ask, but could someone explain the rationale for taxing gifts within a family? Could you explain the rationale for excluding such unearned income, other than privileging generational wealth against wealth earned by personal work and investment? > Ignoring the possibility of using it to circumvent an income tax, etc., my initial thought is that if my dad wants to give me $30,001 t…

> Could you explain the rationale for excluding such unearned income, other than privileging generational wealth against wealth earned by personal work and investment?

If I buy a round of drinks, do people have to pay tax?

(I assume there's some minimum threshold)

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#90

Post by mmcconnell1618 »

paulddraper wrote: post #80
astrodust wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At low levels, which aren't taxed, it's not going to affect anything. At high levels, like giving your kid ten billion dollars, you're making it impractical or impossible for others to advance economically. You're creating a class of people with indestructible inherited wealth that never have to work, that only have to collect interest and rent on the backs of everyone else. That's what inheritance tax and gift taxes…

> like giving your kid ten billion dollars, you're making it impractical or impossible for others to advance economically. Zero-sum is one perspective, but not one that I subscribe to. Does your neighbor having $10b of stuff make you better or worse off than if than if there's $10b of stuff at the bottom of the ocean?

I don't believe the economy is zero-sum either but handing $10B in capital to your child gives them a significantly unfair advantage compared to most others.

Image that the economy is a field of wheat. It grows bigger every year as workers become more productive and learn how to fertilize and water more efficiently. At the end of the season, everyone gets a chance to head into the field and collect some wheat.

Some people don't have any tools. They pick the wheat by hand. Others have managed to fashion scythes and can collect a little more. But, the kid who inherited $10b has a fleet of combines that race into the field and collect 75% of the wheat in a flash.

The economy (wheat field) grew bigger and everyone had a little more wheat but the $10b kid got way more than the others and can now buy another combine for the fleet to get even more next year.

Without some rational tax on inherited wealth, we will create (and already have created in the United States) a plutocracy.

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