Forget philanthropy. The super-rich should be paying proper taxes
1–10 of 161 posts
Re: Forget philanthropy. The super-rich should be paying proper taxes
#2Scott Alexander had a compelling argument against this: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/07/29/against-against-billio...
Re: Forget philanthropy. The super-rich should be paying proper taxes
#3Too many temporarily embarrassed billionaires in our population to push for this from the bottom, and too many billionaires using their version of lunch money on our politicians to get traction from the top.
Great concept, won’t ever actually happen.
Re: Forget philanthropy. The super-rich should be paying proper taxes
#4It's probably different in the UK where The Guardian is, but in the USA the bottom 45% of wage earners pay $0 federal income tax while the top 20% pay 87% of it. I'm not sure how much more you should slap on the "evil" job-creating rich before it's "proper", but 87% already seems pretty high to me.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/45-of-americans-pay-no-fed...
Re: Forget philanthropy. The super-rich should be paying proper taxes
#5I just read that Jeff Bezoz will pay a lower tax rate than someone earning $7.25/hr. Incredible.
Re: Forget philanthropy. The super-rich should be paying proper taxes
#6Too many temporarily embarrassed billionaires in our population to push for this from the bottom, and too many billionaires using their version of lunch money on our politicians to get traction from the top. Great concept, won’t ever actually happen.
This is a problem in the US, and probably other places as well. People know the system is rigged against them but they think they'll be rich one day and want to take advantage of the same system.
I like George Carlin's saying: "They call it the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."
Re: Forget philanthropy. The super-rich should be paying proper taxes
#7Why the notion that gov't should be the provider & arbiter of all? Why do none of the "they don't pay enough taxes" crowd not realize the rich do so much of, and more efficiently, what the gov't purports to with massive overhead? Job creation, charity, arts funding, lowering costs of necessities, etc - and at levels & locations which gov't would never achieve.
The "tax/soak the rich" notion seems almost entirely punitive, not productive. Yeah Musk has $billions, he's also creating thousands of jobs (direct & indirect), making the expensive affordable, improving environment, etc - and able to because he's very rich. Even the "mean" rich create jobs & markets etc that gov't can't.
Re: Forget philanthropy. The super-rich should be paying proper taxes
#8I just read that Jeff Bezoz will pay a lower tax rate than someone earning $7.25/hr. Incredible.
He's also giving thousands of people jobs, making necessities available to millions at low prices, and paying enormous amounts in total taxes. Can gov't really do more with his money than he can? Do you really want to disincentivize what he does for humanity?
Re: Forget philanthropy. The super-rich should be paying proper taxes
#9Scott Alexander had a compelling argument against this: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/07/29/against-against-billio...
If they are deterred from donating to charity by the negative press, was it philanthropy in the first place?
Re: Forget philanthropy. The super-rich should be paying proper taxes
#10I just read that Jeff Bezoz will pay a lower tax rate than someone earning $7.25/hr. Incredible.
I find that unlikely, since someone making $7.25/hr is probably not paying any income tax at all.