Until there's a wealth floor -- until everyone is fed, sheltered and has access to education, there needs to be a wealth cap. We, as a collective humanity, should not allow anyone to have more than, say, $20 million, until the basic needs of others have been met.
That would incent people to spend on consumption when their wealth approached the cap, while not actually paying any of the tax. Thus more of the world's productive capabilities would be redirected towards rich people consuming luxuries that they otherwise wouldn't have bothered with.
Millionaires call for an emergency tax on billionaires
151–160 of 246 posts
Re: Millionaires call for an emergency tax on billionaires
#152This may be unpopular, but the hard thing in this discussion is to differentiate between consumption and investment. It does not help much to take wealth in terms of equity paper money away from people who know how to invest it efficiently and distribute it. On the other hand, there are minimum basic needs for consumption of food, health services, shelter, education etc. I agree that the system to finance those servi…
"It does not help much to take wealth in terms of equity paper money away from people who know how to invest it efficiently and distribute it." This assumes what needs to be proven. Namely, the degree to which the wealth of billionaries under the status quo regulatory, financial, and tax regime reflects their outsized contributions to welfare. If we make a number of assumptions (e.g. perfect information, perfect comp…
I think it has been, dramatically, over the last 120 years. Plenty of countries have tried radical appropriation and redistribution, and it failed spectacularly every time. Meanwhile a prominent Marxist country, China, turned to capitalism and within a generation has raised hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and into urban middle class lives. Meanwhile Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea.
Of course Capitalism has failure modes, because people are imperfect. All the flaws levelled at Capitalism are also found in spades in alternate economic systems because they are flaws in us. That's where accountability through liberal democracy and a decent system of laws come in. Yes that's always a work in progress and no it's not perfect, but it does work.
Re: Millionaires call for an emergency tax on billionaires
#153The problem, as always, is implementation. Millionaires, especially those on the low end of that spectrum, tend to be fairly easy to tax. Their income sources are mostly regular and standard forms of income tax work pretty well. Billionaires are a very different animal. They have armies of lawyers and financial managers that help them navigate the movement of wealth through the global system to avoid taxation. They a…
The net result is going to be that the tax system gets more byzantine, the government says "look, we started taxing billionaires", and the billionaires still aren't paying. But filing taxes will get more complicated for millionaires and upper-middle-class people.
I'm not normally a highly cynical person. But I am cynical about the government's ability to wisely write legislation in the face of a heavy lobbying blitz.
Re: Millionaires call for an emergency tax on billionaires
#154Until there's a wealth floor -- until everyone is fed, sheltered and has access to education, there needs to be a wealth cap. We, as a collective humanity, should not allow anyone to have more than, say, $20 million, until the basic needs of others have been met.
The point I believe you are missing is that this will not meet basic needs of others. If you distribute the excess wealth, you will create a lot of inflation because if people have twice the money they will be prone to pay a twice bigger rent or a twice bigger restaurant check, or twice the money for the same land plot. If you decide to somehow destroy the excess wealth (for example, burning cash or the houses they d…
Ah, I see! So what you're saying is, if we tax the poor instead, that'll deflate the currency and make everyone richer!
Re: Millionaires call for an emergency tax on billionaires
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "the hard thing in this discussion is to differentiate between consumption and investment" Indeed. Even harder is to acknowledge our government already has enough tax money, and further tax revenue will not be used prudently, in the best interest of our country.
Citation needed.
Re: Millionaires call for an emergency tax on billionaires
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Imposing a wealth cap like that is a fantastic way to assure that those basic needs will never be met. Over the past two centuries, billions of humans have been lifted out of poverty. Approximately zero percent of that came from the redistribution of existing wealth. All of it came from raising economic productivity. And that vast majority of those productivity gains had foundations built by entrepreneurs seeking gre…
> came from entrepreneurs seeking to build great fortunes $20 million per person is a great fortune. Show me any innovation that came from someone wanting more.
Re: Millionaires call for an emergency tax on billionaires
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you need a $20 million house to feel like you live in a "nice house"? Can you explain to me why your logic is less "weird" than the one you are replying to?
The point is not the exact dollar figure that makes one happy. The problem is the "crabs in the bucket" mentality.
Re: Millionaires call for an emergency tax on billionaires
#158Re: Millionaires call for an emergency tax on billionaires
#159Until there's a wealth floor -- until everyone is fed, sheltered and has access to education, there needs to be a wealth cap. We, as a collective humanity, should not allow anyone to have more than, say, $20 million, until the basic needs of others have been met.
The point I believe you are missing is that this will not meet basic needs of others. If you distribute the excess wealth, you will create a lot of inflation because if people have twice the money they will be prone to pay a twice bigger rent or a twice bigger restaurant check, or twice the money for the same land plot. If you decide to somehow destroy the excess wealth (for example, burning cash or the houses they d…
E.g. the free market depends entirely upon the amount of money people have? And nothing to do with supply/demand and the elasticity of the market? In a more nuanced view demand creates supply, efficiencies of scale reduce cost, and everything is cheaper.
Folks love to throw out the "More money means prices go up!" as if it's a truism.
Re: Millionaires call for an emergency tax on billionaires
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
That sounds hilariously demoralizing. Talk about Pavlovian training in the wrong direction, every time I find a way to boost the value of my company, I have to sign more of it over the government.
It depend on what is done with said boost. It would go straight into your wallet? Makes perfect sense to me for the government to get an additional cut. It would go straight into the companies' salaries? No reason for the government to touch it more than it already does. Obviously, there's room for nuance and it's not just one or the other.