Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

axiomalpha.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 305 posts

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

#101

Post by KKKKkkkk1 »

dmje wrote: post #68

Unfashionable thought: pay your damn taxes. Loopholes are one thing and IMO should be closed but morality is another. The whole idea that you can make a billion dollar business without being hugely dependent on the infrastructure, education, history, societal background etc that has largely been paid for by...taxes...is utter fallacy. Maybe if massively profitable businesses spent a bit more time doing the right thin…

I have an idea. I'll pay my damn taxes if you'll pay back your government-sponsored student loan. Deal?

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

#102

Post by whitepaint »

dmje wrote: post #68

Unfashionable thought: pay your damn taxes. Loopholes are one thing and IMO should be closed but morality is another. The whole idea that you can make a billion dollar business without being hugely dependent on the infrastructure, education, history, societal background etc that has largely been paid for by...taxes...is utter fallacy. Maybe if massively profitable businesses spent a bit more time doing the right thin…

You want to tell me when you do your taxes with your accountant you don't try to pay as little taxes as legally possible?

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

#103

Post by richbell »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #101
dmje wrote: post #68

Unfashionable thought: pay your damn taxes. Loopholes are one thing and IMO should be closed but morality is another. The whole idea that you can make a billion dollar business without being hugely dependent on the infrastructure, education, history, societal background etc that has largely been paid for by...taxes...is utter fallacy. Maybe if massively profitable businesses spent a bit more time doing the right thin…

I have an idea. I'll pay my damn taxes if you'll pay back your government-sponsored student loan. Deal?

> I have an idea. I'll pay my damn taxes if you'll pay back your government-sponsored student loan. Deal?

What exactly are you trying to say here?

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

#104

Post by bojangleslover »

ramraj07 wrote: post #99
kmonsen wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Norwegian taxes are not too far off from CA or NY taxes to be honest. The marginal rate tops out at under 50%. It’s worse for capital gains and they have a wealth taxes so a lot worse for some.

This only applies to the upper middle class not the insanely rich though. Anyone who hires a tax attorney is not paying high taxes in this country.

That's just not true. The top 1% pay 33% of the tax (and the top 10%, "upper middle class", pay 70%). I think myth just causes confusion and misplaced anger.

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

#105

Post by retcon »

modeless wrote: post #48
umeshunni wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's East Palo Alto, a historically low income area: https://opportunitydb.com/zones/06081612100/

Yeah but most of East Palo Alto isn't in the zone, and part of Menlo Park is.

Arbitrarily and Irish myself seeing three streets of Irish name makes me assume long term economic doldrums. Saying this isn't a good feeling but one generation removed from poverty that's what I am programmed to think. (I'm not young my mother was born in '31)

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

#106

Post by ketzo »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #101
dmje wrote: post #68

Unfashionable thought: pay your damn taxes. Loopholes are one thing and IMO should be closed but morality is another. The whole idea that you can make a billion dollar business without being hugely dependent on the infrastructure, education, history, societal background etc that has largely been paid for by...taxes...is utter fallacy. Maybe if massively profitable businesses spent a bit more time doing the right thin…

I have an idea. I'll pay my damn taxes if you'll pay back your government-sponsored student loan. Deal?

1) insane false equivalency

2) please don’t build straw men

3) please don’t be so combative

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

#107

Post by mdiesel »

seibelj wrote: post #91
diob wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism these days feels akin to joining a game of monopoly where everything has already been purchased. But feel free to have a jolly time going around the board and paying rent :)

At least in capitalism you can start a new business. The folly of the Monopoly board game is the limited spaces which makes things a zero-sum game. The world is only zero-sum when the government doesn’t let you build new stuff through artificial constraints. In a free market always get new stuff.

The gp specifically mentioned land ownership, which makes the comparison more interesting.

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

#108

Post by _AzMoo »

bojangleslover wrote: post #104
ramraj07 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This only applies to the upper middle class not the insanely rich though. Anyone who hires a tax attorney is not paying high taxes in this country.

That's just not true. The top 1% pay 33% of the tax (and the top 10%, "upper middle class", pay 70%). I think myth just causes confusion and misplaced anger.

What proportion of wealth do they have access to?

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

#109

Post by pcrh »

bojangleslover wrote: post #79
dmje wrote: post #68

Unfashionable thought: pay your damn taxes. Loopholes are one thing and IMO should be closed but morality is another. The whole idea that you can make a billion dollar business without being hugely dependent on the infrastructure, education, history, societal background etc that has largely been paid for by...taxes...is utter fallacy. Maybe if massively profitable businesses spent a bit more time doing the right thin…

Infrastructure is just a sliver of the fed budget. Education is funded by property taxes, also a sliver. "History" and "societal background" has absolutely not been "paid for by taxes". If every working American contributed $8,000 in taxes we would have the same revenue as the insanely progressive system we have now. I don't think anyone here would advocate for zero taxes. I think they would simply advocate for less…

>If every working American contributed $8,000 in taxes we would have the same revenue

You're not arguing for lower taxes; you're arguing for higher taxes on the poorest.

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

#110

Post by jhugo »

PeterisP wrote: post #53
jhugo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to me that "the wealthy" could come up with simpler loopholes without the pesky requirement to actually invest money in depressed areas.

It's not like the actions proposed by this article amount to any investment at in those depressed areas, it's just registering your company there but not actually doing anything which would benefit that neighborhood.

That's not correct. The article glosses over this, but if you read it carefully:

> At least 90% of [the QOF's] assets must be “qualified opportunity zone property” which can be any combination of (1) stock in a QOZB corporation, (2) partnership interest in a QOZB structured as an LLC or other pass-through partnership entity, and/or (3) qualified opportunity zone business property. However, this requirement doesn’t take effect immediately which means the QOF has time to find qualifying investments without rushing. Additionally, the 90% rule temporarily loosens if you deposit more cash into the QOF.

So you have to invest the assets either in (qualified) property in the depressed area, or in a company (QOZB) in the depressed area, which then has to meet these requirements among others:

> At least 50% of [the QOZB's] total gross income is derived from the conduct of a business in a qualified opportunity zone.

> At least 40% of [the QOZB's] intangible property (e.g. patents, trademarks, etc) must be actively used inside a qualified opportunity zone.

> At least 70% of [the QOZB's] tangible property owned or leased by the business must be qualified opportunity zone business property.

If this is some giant conspiracy by "the wealthy" to get some tax benefits, it's odd that they have put so much effort into making sure there is actual economic benefit for the depressed areas.

Post reply on HN