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California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

wsj.com

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Re: California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

#181

Post by carlio »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #157
adjkant wrote: post #68

Well I guess I'll take the apparently bold stance here that this isn't the end of Silicon Valley or California and yes this is fair and further, good. When people are getting 5-6% returns on investments (minimum), 0.4% is still not even stopping the rich get richer effect. Not to mention that it's almost certain no one here will ever be touched by this tax. If you're going to move where you live or significantly alte…

because of 0.4% If California was well run, clean, and had otherwise lower tax, then .4% might be easy to ignore. But if you’re already on the fence, and not happy with things, and have been talking to real estate agents in Seattle, Austin, Miami, or Singapore, then this just the kick in the butt you might need to go through with leaving.

Local governance running well, public services like cleaning, helping homeless etc, all require tax dollars. Saying "I'd pay tax if they had enough money they get from tax to fix the problems that cause me not to want to pay tax" seems like it's a bit of a chicken-egg problem.

Re: California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

#182

Post by jandrewrogers »

adjkant wrote: post #68

Well I guess I'll take the apparently bold stance here that this isn't the end of Silicon Valley or California and yes this is fair and further, good. When people are getting 5-6% returns on investments (minimum), 0.4% is still not even stopping the rich get richer effect. Not to mention that it's almost certain no one here will ever be touched by this tax. If you're going to move where you live or significantly alte…

The taxes from the "1930's-1970's" were not particularly high, that is a misunderstanding of how the structure of the tax code has changed. Net of deductions, taxation hasn't changed that much. You can't look at the nominal tax rates in isolation while ignoring the scope of deduction against those rates.

Eliminating deductions for high-income earners while reducing tax rates on that income is revenue neutral, and generally preferable as a policy.

Re: California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

#183

Post by ashconnor »

Trisell wrote: post #95
adjkant wrote: post #68

Well I guess I'll take the apparently bold stance here that this isn't the end of Silicon Valley or California and yes this is fair and further, good. When people are getting 5-6% returns on investments (minimum), 0.4% is still not even stopping the rich get richer effect. Not to mention that it's almost certain no one here will ever be touched by this tax. If you're going to move where you live or significantly alte…

I think your premise that they will experience French Revolution like consequences is overlooking the fact that unlike the 1700s. Up and taking your money to another country that still likes you is the click of a mouse and a private jet flight out. So no they won’t capitulate to higher taxes of earlier times. They will just leave. Like they already are at the threat of it.

Begs the question why haven't they left already. Is there some sweet spot of taxation before the majority the people being taxed resort to capital flight?

Re: California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

#184

Post by da_big_ghey »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #74

Can someone explain what the limitations are on a state's ability to levy taxes? E.g., are there any Constitutional barriers to one state charging income tax on someone merely passing through? Or, e.g., could CA tax the income of someone who is no longer a resident? What mechanisms if any proscribe that kind of money grab?

TBH if I stood to lose as much as many California billionaires, I'd leave, ignore the warrant for my arrest, and just not go back to California.

Re: California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

#185

Post by bassman9000 »

adjkant wrote: post #68

Well I guess I'll take the apparently bold stance here that this isn't the end of Silicon Valley or California and yes this is fair and further, good. When people are getting 5-6% returns on investments (minimum), 0.4% is still not even stopping the rich get richer effect. Not to mention that it's almost certain no one here will ever be touched by this tax. If you're going to move where you live or significantly alte…

because of 0.4%

It's not because of a .4. As you said, barely anyone will pay it. And still people are leaving.

It's because it's now a fact:

That California politicians are unable to spend wisely.

That California politicians have great appetite for raising taxes, and inventing new ones.

So it's not a .4 that drives people out. It's because they know what's next.

Re: California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

#186

Post by afpx »

adjkant wrote: post #68

Well I guess I'll take the apparently bold stance here that this isn't the end of Silicon Valley or California and yes this is fair and further, good. When people are getting 5-6% returns on investments (minimum), 0.4% is still not even stopping the rich get richer effect. Not to mention that it's almost certain no one here will ever be touched by this tax. If you're going to move where you live or significantly alte…

There's always going to be a demand for California. It's a unique country - the vibe, the culture, the creativity, the beauty. It's one of the best places in the world to start a creative business because of the raw talent that's available. People will continue to flock there, regardless of the taxes, especially in a post-scarcity world.

It's good for Californians to enforce their values. They'll keep their country unique, while the rest of the world homogenizes into a capitalist dystopia.

Re: California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

#187

Post by throwaway894345 »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #77
caseysoftware wrote: post #26

I'm not sure what the problem is. When Democrat supporters demand more more more via the politicians who promise more more more, where did they think the money would come from? Believe it or not, the bottom ~50% don't have enough money to tax. The next 30-40% have some but not enough to raise enough money to help. The taxes have to be focused on the top 10% and more likely the top 1-3% to raise enough to meet these d…

> where did they think the money would come from? There’s a growing misconception that everything can be paid for by simply taxing the wealthy a tiny bit more. Several prominent activist politicians have built their platforms on the idea that billionaires are an infinite source of consequence-free tax revenue. These ideas are especially popular among the college students and new college grads I mentor. It usually fal…

My favorite was when MSNBC cited a Tweet claiming that Mike Bloomberg could write every American a check for $1,000,000 and still have money left over.

I actually think our country can afford to tax the rich more than we have done, but there are a lot of people who reach the same conclusion by utterly farcical reasoning. Relatedly, there are a lot of people who rail against capitalism for making us slaves as though there is an alternate system that doesn’t impoverish and ultimately kill billions.

Re: California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

#188

Post by da_big_ghey »

todd8 wrote: post #42
zbrozek wrote: post #28

Does anyone know the mechanism by which they can possibly make the out of state tax stick? If it doesn't, I'd probably move to the Midwest. If it does, there are other citizenships.

The federal government does something worse, you pay federal income tax on all income no matter where it is made and what country you are living in (with the exception of some deductions for income taxes paid to other countries one is living in). Other countries only make you pay taxes for income generated there. Even if you give up US citizenship, which requires something like paying taxes on all unrealized gains an…

America has enough influence over the global financial system to do this. California does not.

Re: California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

#189

Post by staticman2 »

tryptophan wrote: post #125
sys_64738 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not long until TX is flipped to the Democrats. It's coming.

The state that voted for Trump with a 5.5% margin? Dems will lose the entire midwest before Texas flips.

Demographics are trending towards Democrats in Texas though that doesn't mean it will necessarily happen.

Re: California plan for wealth tax on anyone who spends 60 days a year in the state

#190

Post by frogblast »

This is fearmongering. The bill was introduced a year ago, went nowhere, and is now dead. This WSJ article was published a month after the bill was officially killed…

The broader legislature has no interest in such a tax.

This is the bill in question: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xht...

Edit: also note that this article is on the WSJ opinion page, and didn’t come from the news desk.

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