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How to have a billion dollar exit with zero capital gains tax

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Re: How to have a billion dollar exit with zero capital gains tax

#31
post #27

Is this really what people strive for in the USA. To avoid contributing anything back to the country that helped them achieve everything they've ever wanted?

The government of USA is incredibly inefficient at getting anything done. If I had billions of dollars I would always strive to legally pay as least taxes as possible and use the funds to contribute back the country in much more efficient ways, including investing in people who are provably getting shit done. Here's the latest of a constant firehose of misuse of funds I've seen. The gist is that a Stanford professor…

A state school professor (Berkeley) called out a private school professor (Stanford) for a $5k/hour BS consulting fee.

How does that make your case?

Re: How to have a billion dollar exit with zero capital gains tax

#32
There's an opportunity zone adjacent to Palo Alto that extends into Menlo Park. It has a Four Seasons hotel in it. There are other areas nearby that could use the investment incentive a lot more IMO. Who decided on these zones? Seems totally arbitrary.

Re: How to have a billion dollar exit with zero capital gains tax

#33
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you also give all your information to a random caller that offers you a free cruise? I think you forgot that politicians are legally bribed to behave against the wishes and/or needs of the people. You're right that moralizing is beyond useless. Instead let's define the bounds of our morality by our tax code. What can go wrong?

I assume when you file your taxes, you refuse all deductions and tax credits that you're eligible for, because obviously the most moral thing is to give as much of your money to the government as possible, right?

Most of us don’t lobby the government to write laws that carve out near-zero tax burdens.

Which, with the growing wealth inequality, explains that why the tax burden on the middle income keeps stable or grows; while services and benefits keep shrinking.

Re: How to have a billion dollar exit with zero capital gains tax

#34
post #22

Is this really what people strive for in the USA. To avoid contributing anything back to the country that helped them achieve everything they've ever wanted?

I think, like most things, it’s a bell curve - the bulk of the people want to contribute a reasonable amount while some want contribute none and some extra. The glaring issue in the United States is how much capital is gained — though I prefer ‘allocated to’, as the people do the work — by a minuscule portion of the population and the paltry taxes they then pay.

"platry"?? The top 10% of the US pays 71% of tax.

Re: How to have a billion dollar exit with zero capital gains tax

#36
You still owe capital gains on the original proceeds, deferred a few years and with a possible 10-15% basis step up. This isn't zero capital gains tax.

If you happen to have a billion dollar exit on your reinvested capital gains that can be tax free, but you're still paying tax on the original gain.

Re: How to have a billion dollar exit with zero capital gains tax

#37
post #6

Is this really what people strive for in the USA. To avoid contributing anything back to the country that helped them achieve everything they've ever wanted?

The government is not a charity. If they have deemed something to be non-taxable, it's because the government (and by extension, the people it represents) want to incentivize that particular activity, in this case investing in economically depressed areas. If at some point we no longer want to incentivize that behavior, the government can simply remove the tax break. Moralizing about how people shouldn't engage in th…

> (and by extension, the people it represents)

This is where your argument breaks down. Gerrymandering has completely eliminated this as a reasonable belief in most places.

Most voters don't even care about issues, they care about parties, their team. As such, they don't care or want to incentive anything except their own team winning.

> the government can simply remove the tax break.

If most people want abortion to be legal, the government can simply legalize it.

Oh wait!

Re: How to have a billion dollar exit with zero capital gains tax

#39
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government of USA is incredibly inefficient at getting anything done. If I had billions of dollars I would always strive to legally pay as least taxes as possible and use the funds to contribute back the country in much more efficient ways, including investing in people who are provably getting shit done. Here's the latest of a constant firehose of misuse of funds I've seen. The gist is that a Stanford professor…

A state school professor (Berkeley) called out a private school professor (Stanford) for a $5k/hour BS consulting fee. How does that make your case?

That BS consulting fee comes from my taxes.
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