Earlier quoted context omitted.
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I thought workers owning the means of production was communism, whereas socialism has come to mean the distribution of value to society through highly general programs.
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For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate
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Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate
#12Wow, that chart shows tax rates on the wealthy dropping from 70% to 23% in the last 70 years. Now probably 70% was too socialist and may not fly in a globalised world where is a lot easier to move to a lower tax country or state (I'd move if I had to pay that.) But this seems ridiculously tilted to the other extreme now. Edit: I don't understand the objections to my comment. If you have a problem with the data behind…
There were a lot more exemptions, deductions and credits back then so the effective tax rate was not even close to 70% and was not much higher than it is today. Not sure why this article didn't mention this at all but I can guess, coming from the New York Times and all.
Since you're so sure of your viewpoint and the NYT's bias, it should be really easy for you to go into more detail here, right? (I'm not expecting a thorough response from you, don't worry)
Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate
#13Wow, that chart shows tax rates on the wealthy dropping from 70% to 23% in the last 70 years. Now probably 70% was too socialist and may not fly in a globalised world where is a lot easier to move to a lower tax country or state (I'd move if I had to pay that.) But this seems ridiculously tilted to the other extreme now. Edit: I don't understand the objections to my comment. If you have a problem with the data behind…
There were a lot more exemptions, deductions and credits back then so the effective tax rate was not even close to 70% and was not much higher than it is today. Not sure why this article didn't mention this at all but I can guess, coming from the New York Times and all.
I'd like to read up on the exemptions, deductions, and credits you mentioned. Is there a link you'd recommend?
Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate
#14> The top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes (37.3 percent) than the bottom 90 percent combined (30.5 percent). [1]
I believe the linked data is from before the tax cuts. However, politics/social justice/etc all aside, it makes sense to me systematically that tax cuts affect the rich more than others. Wouldn't the groups paying the most be adjusted the most when a change occurs?
[1] https://taxfoundation.org/summary-latest-federal-income-tax-...
Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate
#15dang: Dupe checker miss this one? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21176586
Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate
#16Wow, that chart shows tax rates on the wealthy dropping from 70% to 23% in the last 70 years. Now probably 70% was too socialist and may not fly in a globalised world where is a lot easier to move to a lower tax country or state (I'd move if I had to pay that.) But this seems ridiculously tilted to the other extreme now. Edit: I don't understand the objections to my comment. If you have a problem with the data behind…
There were a lot more exemptions, deductions and credits back then so the effective tax rate was not even close to 70% and was not much higher than it is today. Not sure why this article didn't mention this at all but I can guess, coming from the New York Times and all.
Claims like this would feel a lot stronger with evidence. Especially since it seems counter intuitive to have fewer deductions and credits in the modern world. Those numbers would, intuitively, go up in time. Just on how rarely we talk of expiring them.
Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate
#17It is absolutely intolerable that the US tax system is now flat and even slightly regressive.
Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate
#18why is this on hacker news?
Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate
#19What a shit article.
It's well known that despite the high marginal tax rates of the past, very few people ever paid those. Deductions abound that have since been eliminated.
What you should really look at is real effective tax rates by income level.[1] What you'll find is that the top 1% make 19% of all income, but pay 37% of all taxes, with an average tax rate of 27%.
The bottom 50% earn 11% of all income, but only pay 3% of all taxes, for an effective rate of 3.73%.
Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate
#20Of course they do. They can afford personal accountants and other full-time professionals that all they do fiscal optimization for them, trying to explore every loophole in the system for their advantage.
They can open a company, declare expenses and claim a low salary, thet can put the money offshore or on Switzerland, and all those tax-avoiding schemas that are not doable by the common citizen.