What lies beneath: Evidence from leaked account data on offshore banking use

Post by alistairSH » Tue, May 25, 2021, 12:35 PM UTC

javert wrote: post #115

alistairSH wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal... my peers (upper middle-class in the US) generally realize the taxes they pay fund all the stuff we rely upon to stay upper middle-class. Good public schools, roads, etc. We just want the rich to pay their fair share too. Or, if you're a jaded cynic, the rich are mostly just greedy sociopaths. They want to minimize their own tax burden and give zero fucks about the betterment of society. They got theirs,…

Both of those things are definitely untrue. When I lived in the US, the vast majority of my taxes went to the federal government and didn't come back in local benefits like schools and roads. (Sure, federal money comes back to universities in the form of research grants which pay for foreign PhD students to work in bullshit paper mills. I've seen that firsthand. The wastage of federal money is near 100%.) Separately,…

Post by sumtechguy » Tue, May 25, 2021, 12:48 PM UTC

Ekaros wrote: post #121

sumtechguy wrote: post #89

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You can have the same tools but not necessarily the same connections. The issue is usually capital. Most people do not have it. For example take Paris Hilton. When she had her DUI a few years ago her 500k car got repo'd. Wah? She stopped making payments on it. Payments?! Because she probably had it going through some business expense structure and was probably literally writing off the interest and payments. More tha…

Also in some cases with cars by my understanding leasing makes lot more sense than buying. Like Rolls Royces where lease payments might be lower than depreciation. So do you actually buy this thing, or just the use of it. When later might overall be cheaper. It's get bit weird with some commodities.

Post by devmunchies » Tue, May 25, 2021, 3:33 PM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #76

devmunchies wrote: post #64

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yes, this is why people calling states with no income tax as a "regressive" tax structure seems like a psyop. Income tax taxes people who work for a living. Property + capital gains tax both tax assets appreciation and rent seekers (unless the investment is a high risk venture into a startup or something ambitious).

Maybe, but they are less regressive. States without income taxes usually rely on sales or excise taxes. In a “high tax” state like New York, poor people don’t pay income tax nor sales tax on food or clothing. (A significant expense) Usually high tax pressure is from property tax. In a state like South Carolina, you have income tax, but property taxes are very low. They make up for that by taxing food, which results i…

Post by 5etho » Tue, May 25, 2021, 6:07 PM UTC

eloff wrote: post #83

the_optimist wrote: post #39

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You’ll never see rich people argue for a wealth tax, but they sure as hell will parade demanding that we raise taxes on income of the service class.

That's factually incorrect. It's easy to make a list of rich people specifically saying tax the rich more. Leaving that aside, the 1% pay 38.5% of taxes, which seems quite fair as is. We already tax the rich quite heavily. I'd rather the focus be on compliance. Close the loopholes and catch the tax evaders. Wealth taxes, if you look at examples elsewhere both present and historically, are hard to do well. I worry the…

Post by slashdev » Tue, May 25, 2021, 7:34 PM UTC

whydoibother wrote: post #178

slashdev wrote: post #174

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If you believe communism works, how is that not an indictment of your intellect after a century of examples to the contrary - and not just a few, there had been a 100% failure rate. The only communist counties they did well essentially embraced capitalism. Either you are totally ignorant of history and arguing out of your depth or you are probably not that bright.

You didn't even address what I said, and instead resorted back to black and white thinking. All while telling me I am the stupid one. Okay. P.S. Cuba and Vietnam are still around and still socialist. Edit: Actually, looking at all your arguments here, you just scream about how socialism doesn't work and if you disagree then you're dumb. Get better, please.