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Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

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Re: Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

#21

Post by AlexTWithBeard »

systemvoltage wrote: post #2

I predict that people will leave Washington State in droves. Not because of the tax increase, but because the amount of taxes you pay goes into never ending government pit of inefficiency and incompetency. I’m down with paying more taxes but in return I want no homelessness, no chadzone, less crime, better roads, straight forward education (math is racist apparently), spotless streets, safety, eradication of poverty,…

New York State here.

Some of the highest property and income taxes in exchange for

- shitty expensive roads

- just "meh" state university

- the worst subway I saw in any country (and there were a few)

and I can keep whinging for another half an hour.

Re: Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

#22

Post by rp1 »

JoeyBananas wrote: post #17

Capital gains tax is a bad idea because it hurts businesses. It takes money out of the economy and puts it into the government where it is spent less efficiently.

Government spending isn’t about efficiency per se. First, there is the question about efficiency for whom exactly. Are these taxes less efficient for Microsoft shareholders (and large shareholders in general)? Almost certainly. But long-term investments in the populace, such as funding schools, can be more efficient on the whole in the long term if the investments pay off in the form of a more productive population. Second, efficiency is generally uncorrelated with equality at best and anti-correlated at worst. I’m not saying we need a totally equal society, but surely some work needs to be done to promote equality if we’re to have a meritocracy.

Re: Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

#23

Post by thatfrenchguy »

mikestew wrote: post #14
systemvoltage wrote: post #2

I predict that people will leave Washington State in droves. Not because of the tax increase, but because the amount of taxes you pay goes into never ending government pit of inefficiency and incompetency. I’m down with paying more taxes but in return I want no homelessness, no chadzone, less crime, better roads, straight forward education (math is racist apparently), spotless streets, safety, eradication of poverty,…

Not because of the tax increase, but because the amount of taxes you pay goes into never ending government pit of inefficiency and incompetency. From my POV, having lived here for 20 years, WA residents used to get a reasonable deal on their taxes. Sure, they were high from the perspective of this Midwestern boy, but the ferries ran on time and shit got done. I do not feel that's the case anymore (well, the ferries a…

> I was just asking my wife the other day, "I don't mind high gas taxes per se, but for having some of the highest fuel taxes in the country, why is this highly-trafficked road such a piece of shit? They haven't paved it since we moved here."

Suburbs in the US have too much roads per capita (thanks to SFH obsession), you'll end up with this issue almost no matter how much taxes you raise.

Re: Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

#24

Post by devwastaken »

JoeyBananas wrote: post #17

Capital gains tax is a bad idea because it hurts businesses. It takes money out of the economy and puts it into the government where it is spent less efficiently.

You can that say about any tax. The most economically efficient tax system is one where workers are taxed the least, and the profiting companies the most. Individual taxes are what stifle business, because we cannot afford to even take the risk to start small. Therefore we cannot dedicate full time to a business venture and we lose.

These massive companies use the most public resources and hardly contribute back. An entity has to exist to enforce they do, which are taxes. Massive companies like Microsoft are not stifled, they do that themselves through significant mismanagement and bullying of the market.

Re: Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

#25

Post by a45a33s »

systemvoltage wrote: post #2

I predict that people will leave Washington State in droves. Not because of the tax increase, but because the amount of taxes you pay goes into never ending government pit of inefficiency and incompetency. I’m down with paying more taxes but in return I want no homelessness, no chadzone, less crime, better roads, straight forward education (math is racist apparently), spotless streets, safety, eradication of poverty,…

people will also be leaving due to lord inslee's neverending "emergency powers"

Re: Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

#26

Post by joebiden2024 »

systemvoltage wrote: post #2

I predict that people will leave Washington State in droves. Not because of the tax increase, but because the amount of taxes you pay goes into never ending government pit of inefficiency and incompetency. I’m down with paying more taxes but in return I want no homelessness, no chadzone, less crime, better roads, straight forward education (math is racist apparently), spotless streets, safety, eradication of poverty,…

Washington has one of the best universities in the country, excellent secondary education, and is home to two of the largest tech companies in the world. It’s a shining example of American excellence to the world, and you think people will leave because of capital gains? This is silly.

Re: Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

#27

Post by pirate787 »

ttymck wrote: post #18
JoeyBananas wrote: post #17

Capital gains tax is a bad idea because it hurts businesses. It takes money out of the economy and puts it into the government where it is spent less efficiently.

I'm sure your argument is deeper, but what you have written could be said about any tax, no? Is there something unique about capital gains tax in particular?

Capital gains taxes are double taxation...the company already pays income taxes on its profit.

Re: Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

#28

Post by missedthecue »

devwastaken wrote: post #24
JoeyBananas wrote: post #17

Capital gains tax is a bad idea because it hurts businesses. It takes money out of the economy and puts it into the government where it is spent less efficiently.

You can that say about any tax. The most economically efficient tax system is one where workers are taxed the least, and the profiting companies the most. Individual taxes are what stifle business, because we cannot afford to even take the risk to start small. Therefore we cannot dedicate full time to a business venture and we lose. These massive companies use the most public resources and hardly contribute back. An…

"The most economically efficient tax system is one where workers are taxed the least, and the profiting companies the most."

Hmm. I don't think this is true. According to the article below, you can see that economists on the right and left favor a complete elimination of the corporate income tax. In fact, the article points out that it's one of the few areas of overlapping agreement!

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/19/157047211/six-...

It's no wonder that in progress Europe, corporate taxes are low and income+consumption taxes on the middle class are very high.

Re: Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

#29

Post by joebiden2024 »

AlexTWithBeard wrote: post #21
systemvoltage wrote: post #2

I predict that people will leave Washington State in droves. Not because of the tax increase, but because the amount of taxes you pay goes into never ending government pit of inefficiency and incompetency. I’m down with paying more taxes but in return I want no homelessness, no chadzone, less crime, better roads, straight forward education (math is racist apparently), spotless streets, safety, eradication of poverty,…

New York State here. Some of the highest property and income taxes in exchange for - shitty expensive roads - just "meh" state university - the worst subway I saw in any country (and there were a few) and I can keep whinging for another half an hour.

Stony Brook, Binghamton and the publicly funded colleges at Cornell provide excellent educations, and that’s disregarding the historical excellence of the CUNY schools. I’ll grant you the subways though.

Re: Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state implements gains tax

#30

Post by nostrademons »

pirate787 wrote: post #27
ttymck wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure your argument is deeper, but what you have written could be said about any tax, no? Is there something unique about capital gains tax in particular?

Capital gains taxes are double taxation...the company already pays income taxes on its profit.

That would be dividends. Capital gains (in theory at least) are the result of a company investing in its future earning capacity, eg. hiring scientists for R&D, building a new factory, spending money on SaaS upgrades, etc. These all come out of the income statement as expenses, and aren't recorded as profit, so the company doesn't pay corporate taxes on them.

You'd potentially have a point for buybacks, which are usually paid off of retained earnings that have already been taxed and yet raise the share price and cause capital gains. This is the same issue that qualified dividends have though.

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