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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

#91

Post by 0x8BADF00D »

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.

Every time the government is involved they fuck it up. They are incompetent and make a career out of being maliciously incompetent. They will spend the money on stupid programs and unnecessary foreign wars. We already cannot trust the government with our tax revenue. These sickos are salivating over additional income to do extremely immoral things with.

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

#93

Post by tempsy »

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…

the majority of billionaires are billionaires due to stock holdings, usually in their own company.

stock ownership of the largest shareholders in public companies are public and reported several times a year.

absolutely no one should think that their stock trading activity is private - it's constantly being reported to the IRS, SEC, FINRA, whatever.

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

#94

Post by jawns »

fatnoah wrote: post #41
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.

> I pay property taxes every quarter and I have just as much property as I started with.

But you don't have as many assets as you started with.

Your total assets are relatively liquid, divisible assets, like cash, combined with relatively illiquid, indivisible assets, like your house.

So instead of chopping off 1% of your house every year and giving it to the government, you give them the value of 1% of your house in cash.

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

#95

Post by esoterica »

aazaa wrote: post #30
WhompingWindows wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand privacy well, can you provide specifics of which nooks/crannies of the wealthy need to be private from the IRS? Also, do you think wealth inequality is a problem, and if so, what'd be your alternative proposition to fix it?

Consider how Joe, a poor person, will prove to the IRS that he has no assets to tax. Proving a negative is impossible, unless you're working with a closed system. You can make the financial system closed by requiring all income and all assets to be reported to the IRS. The only way this works is if we all file asset statements, rich and poor. And that means an end to one of the last remaining forms of financial priva…

You don’t have to prove to the IRS you have no assets, just like how it’s not on you to prove to the IRS that you have no income. You just declare what you have and if you’re found to be lying later you go to jail.

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

#96

Post by criddell »

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.

Here's a good example: Warren Buffet has a lower tax rate than his secretary (at least it was true 7 years ago).

https://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secret...

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

#97

Post by keanzu »

akhilcacharya wrote: post #5

I don't really care about wealth inequality, but from a revenue perspective a wealth tax seems fantastic _if_ can be enacted and enforced. Bill Gates came out in favor of a limited wealth tax as well - I think a mild cost to citizenship for the uber-wealthy is a great idea. Feels like political malpractice to not attempt it. Sidebar: > Kathy Herron, 56, a Republican who lives in Santa Rosa, California, said her suppo…

Bil Gates doesn't need any new taxes to help him transfer his money to the US government, he can do it right now with "Gifts to the United States."

https://fiscal.treasury.gov/public/gifts-to-government.html

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

#98

Post by Miner49er »

esoterica wrote: post #88

Just tax capital gains as income if you want to hit the rich. Wealth taxes are both harder to implement and enforce than income taxes (e.g. how do you appraise an illiquid asset) while conferring no meaningful advantages.

Why not both? I believe Bernie's plan, for example, is to do both.

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

#99

Post by SkyBelow »

xienze wrote: post #64
sct202 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! A huge portion of the middle class's wealth is tied up in property equity that is taxed every year. The ultra wealthy's wealth is primarily in business ownership or equity which is only taxed on gains when it's sold.

> primarily in business ownership Businesses which employ people and pay a whole host of taxes every year... > or equity which is only taxed on gains when it's sold. How would it be fair to tax someone on an asset that only has a theoretical value, which isn’t realized until it’s actually sold?

For the latter, the option would be to allow the person to sell at that amount. Thus if the government over estimated the worth you are capable of selling. This works far better with large businesses than homes due to the impact of emotional value.

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

#100

Post by ohazi »

fatnoah wrote: post #58
ohazi wrote: post #33

I'm skeptical that most respondents understood the questions correctly. Most people are familiar with income tax, because they know that money is removed from their paycheck every month. Many also file tax returns. A wealth tax, where a fraction of your bank balance is removed every month, is a totally alien concept to most people. If you haven't thought about it before, it can take a minute or two to wrap your head…

>In a survey context, all of these questions can be answered on autopilot by mistaking "wealth tax for rich people" with "higher taxes for rich people," which are definitely not the same thing. That was my impression as well. I'd bet money that a large number of the respondents didn't really understand the question. I would love to see the exact question stated somewhere.

I think this is likely even if the survey authors we're careful with the wording, which I believe they were.

Several responses are blasting me for thinking that people are stupid. I wasn't trying to claim that everyone made this mistake, only that it looks like it would have been an easy mistake to make, given most people's experiences.

Also many people pay rent, and are unfamiliar with property taxes.

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