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Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: poll

reuters.com

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Re: Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: poll

#41

Post by fatnoah »

aazaa wrote: post #11

> A wealth tax is levied on an individual’s net worth, such as stocks, bonds and real estate, as well as cash holdings, similar in concept to property taxes. It is separate from an income tax, which applies to wages, interest and dividends, among other sources. One often overlooked issue with a wealth tax is the damaging effect on financial privacy. The income tax already has the IRS probing into nooks and crannies i…

> similar in concept to property taxes

All other merits aside, is it really similar to a property tax? I pay property taxes every quarter and I have just as much property as I started with. The value of the property also doesn't go down every tax cycle as a result. With a wealth tax, the person's wealth would decrease to a minimum at some point.

Re: Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: poll

#43

Post by iso1824 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #14
nightski wrote: post #3

I feel the wealth inequality issue needs to be addressed. My only problem with the wealth tax is that it takes money from the wealthy and feeds it to the government. I am having a hard time connecting how that improves the situation of the lower and middle classes.

>> it takes money from the wealthy and feeds it to the government. As opposed to...?

giving more money to the wealthy, which is the normal way that the world works

Re: Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: poll

#44

Post by nostromo »

skitout wrote: post #28
nostromo wrote: post #6

It's worth noting that the income tax also started out as a tax on the very rich. Once established, taxes have a way of finding their way from the rich, to the middle-class, and then even to the working poor.

It's worth noting that the income tax use to be more than 90% on the very rich...

Tax rules and deductions have changed over the years. Almost nobody paid the top rate and effective tax burdens for the rich have been more or less flat for decades:

https://i.imgur.com/uWl8vsp.png

Re: Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: poll

#45

Post by xienze »

nostromo wrote: post #6

It's worth noting that the income tax also started out as a tax on the very rich. Once established, taxes have a way of finding their way from the rich, to the middle-class, and then even to the working poor.

Exactly. “Tax the rich” is all fun and games until enough voters decide the threshold for “rich” starts at approximately $120k per year and owning a house.

Honestly I would not be surprised if by the time I’m ready to retire that all or part of my 401k is seized to help “solve” the (surprisingly still-present!) problem of wealth inequality.

Re: Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: poll

#46

Post by akhilcacharya »

Bostonian wrote: post #8

If 99% of people vote to impose a tax paid only by 1%, that violates the spirit of "no taxation without representation". That would be universally recognized if, for example, the right-handed voted to raise taxes on the left-handed. Related article: "Millionaires support a wealth tax — as long as they aren’t getting taxed: CNBC survey" https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/23/millionaires-support-a-wealt... . It found that th…

I read a thread on /r/FatFIRE about a possible wealth tax. To my surprise, many supported it because they concluded it was impossible to accrue $50 million (specifically the Warren plan) just by saving aggressively and index-fund investing. Due to the exponential nature of wealth distribution I'd imagine there are far, far more millionaires with $5 million than there are with $50 million.

Re: Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: poll

#47

Post by alrehn »

Bostonian wrote: post #8

If 99% of people vote to impose a tax paid only by 1%, that violates the spirit of "no taxation without representation". That would be universally recognized if, for example, the right-handed voted to raise taxes on the left-handed. Related article: "Millionaires support a wealth tax — as long as they aren’t getting taxed: CNBC survey" https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/23/millionaires-support-a-wealt... . It found that th…

If left-handed people were way more dexterous or something and they had a huge material advantage in life over right-handed people, that might make sense.

There is no desire to take something away from a minority that the rest of us have. Just a desire to make them have a slightly lower exponential difference of money and power.

Re: Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: poll

#48

Post by keanzu »

nightski wrote: post #3

I feel the wealth inequality issue needs to be addressed. My only problem with the wealth tax is that it takes money from the wealthy and feeds it to the government. I am having a hard time connecting how that improves the situation of the lower and middle classes.

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." -Reagan

Re: Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: poll

#49

Post by leetcrew »

hyperhopper wrote: post #15
aazaa wrote: post #11

> A wealth tax is levied on an individual’s net worth, such as stocks, bonds and real estate, as well as cash holdings, similar in concept to property taxes. It is separate from an income tax, which applies to wages, interest and dividends, among other sources. One often overlooked issue with a wealth tax is the damaging effect on financial privacy. The income tax already has the IRS probing into nooks and crannies i…

Capital appreciation is already taxed

afaik, you don't actually report asset purchases to the government. at the time of sale, you report the cost basis and sale price and pay tax on any gains.

unless I'm mistaken on how the reporting works, this is much less intrusive than having to give the government an asset list every year.

Re: Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: poll

#50

Post by onepointsixC »

jandrese wrote: post #10
nightski wrote: post #3

I feel the wealth inequality issue needs to be addressed. My only problem with the wealth tax is that it takes money from the wealthy and feeds it to the government. I am having a hard time connecting how that improves the situation of the lower and middle classes.

Yeah, it is a total mystery how adequately funding social welfare programs could somehow help the poor.

Benefits and welfare programs have been increasing dramatically as a percentage of GDP.
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