Imagine the government intends to cut a social benefit that you use. A person from media reaches out to you to get your take, what are the odds you will try to protect your interests? Depending on how you answer this, it becomes easy to see how people with the means and resources try to protect the resources that they have worked for or received.
Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
191–200 of 488 posts
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#192I’m more concerned about what happens if we don’t start taxing the rich more (in the US). I’m worried about the class divide turning violent
Any kind of class divide that grows over time is bound to become violent. A stable society may have classes, but these classes have to remain relatively the same for a long time (even if there is movement of people between classes). For example, medieval society was unjust, but at least the difference between classes was stable over several centuries. In the modern world we now have a class of owners that increase their wealth astronomically in a few years, while most people are seeing their incomes stagnate or decrease.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#193If the US Government were a charity, the rating would be 0-stars. Nearly all tax money is pocketed by special interests. The usual arguments "yeah what about fire and police" account for a rounding error in tax collection while the vast majority is simply pocketed by friends of your elected officials. You know what'd be nice? Consent. I'd like to be consented before my value is forceful removed from me. I'd like to p…
The problem with relying on philanthropy to fund the public good, instead of taxes, is that it is one dollar, one vote, rather than one person, one vote. This means the more you have to give, the more you get to decide for the rest of us what counts as “public good.” I’m not sure I like the idea of a handful of billionaires deciding for us what public projects are worthy and good.
Today, my neighborhood's roads get paved the same as Jeff Bezos's neighborhood. If taxes were voluntary, then I might not be able to afford more than dirt roads for my house, whereas I bet Jeff's house would be fine.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#194Near 50% of American pay zero federal tax. The top 10% of all Americans pay 69% of all federal taxes currently. This is a point 'left out' of current discussions. Instead of increasing entitlements or adding yet more taxes - we lower the size of the government spending UNTIL it matches where most people pay for the services received in a more scaled manner. Source: https://taxfoundation.org/summary-latest-federal-inc…
> Near 50% of American pay zero federal tax. The top 10% of all Americans pay 69% of all federal taxes currently. This is a point 'left out' of current discussions. Nearly 50% pay no federal income tax. It's worth making that statement precise in this case, because saying they pay no federal tax is just a lie.
Federal income tax is what matters. So yes, everyone pays some sales tax, some property tax, FICA, etc.
But what matters is income tax (for individuals).
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any chance your opinion was formed based on news/studies funded by wealthy individuals?
I'm not the person you responded to but this kind of comment really bugs me. Why assume someone didn't form their own opinion?
No one "forms their own opinion" in a vacuum. Your beliefs and opinions are influenced in a multitude of ways by your environment including the media you consume. Asking how the biases you have were formed is something everyone should be asking of themselves, and certainly doesn't seem like an inappropriate question.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is so hidden in the debate that it is almost like a "secret". The more taxes you have on corporate income, the higher the incentive for corporations to invest in the company, so they can avoid paying taxes. This is good for the economy. On the other hand, lowering corporate taxes also generates a cascade of tax avoidance, since you have higher profits that generate the need for more complex tax avoidance schemes…
Lower taxes means you have higher profit post-tax. You would not need to avoid paying taxes on post-tax money.
I think the GP is saying that one avoids taxes by investing in things that grow the company, jobs, R&D, etc.
I don’t know if this scales all the way up when all the big co’s move their HQ’s offshore. Perhaps we need diff positions for diff business sizes.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's look at jeff bezos for example. He sells over a billion dollars worth of amazon stock each year [0] (those numbers have increased slightly since then actually). Fine, he pays some of that to the government, and maybe sells slightly more. I don't see the problem. If, in fact, your wealth only comes from ownership in a company and you have no other source of wealth, then yes you would be encourages to sell your s…
Exactly. Some people seem to believe that wealth in shares of a company are in some way different from other types of wealth. Just sell shares an you'll be fine with your taxes. By the way, if you're the controller of a company, you can sell shares without voting power (this has always been a possibility).
I have $1,000,000,000 in my checking account. This is my wealth. I am not going to be taxed a single penny on this money. Why tax my "shares" wealth and not my wealth from my checking account?
And if I have my shares, I don't want to sell them. I currently own X number of shares of dozens of companies, I don't have IRS breathing down my neck to sell them, why should Bezos have them breathing down his?! I pay taxes when I sell my shares, not just due to the fact that I own them...
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#198Near 50% of American pay zero federal tax. The top 10% of all Americans pay 69% of all federal taxes currently. This is a point 'left out' of current discussions. Instead of increasing entitlements or adding yet more taxes - we lower the size of the government spending UNTIL it matches where most people pay for the services received in a more scaled manner. Source: https://taxfoundation.org/summary-latest-federal-inc…
I like how you lump it up to top 10%. The top 1% of Americans pay 37% of the tax burden yet own over 60% of the wealth. They are grossly underpaying.
Cutting entitlements and putting MORE of a financial burden on people who have nothing isn't going to fix the problem. AT BEST it'll result in massive social unrest and the end of the American Experiment.
"I know you can't afford healthcare, and can barely afford food, but we're going to need to take away your food stamps, and your subsidized housing because Larry Ellison just can't afford another 1% increase in taxes". That's what you're going with?
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
If we tax wealth, people will be incentivized to generate non-wealth things. Why buy a stock if Biden will take 1% of it annually? May as well just buy rapidly depreciating status symbols instead.
Why work as an average american is the government will take 22% of it? Probably because trading stocks will still leave you with a lot more money than if you threw a tantrum, took your toys home and hid your money under your mattress - no plan that I've seen has investors paying capital gains at the level of their equivalent income - investment is still heavily subsidized.
Capital gains is not a wealth tax. The money in your mattress will also be taxed. Why stay in America if the government not only take 22% of what you earned, but also 2% of what you have.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#200As a business owner, when taxes are low, I see that as an incentive to pocket profits. But when taxes are high, I see that as an incentive to hide the profits by investing in the future. I know this isn't always the case with everyone. And especially investors have a case that higher corporate taxes reduce the value of their investments, possibly to the point of not making them. But this incentive is so blatantly obv…
This is so hidden in the debate that it is almost like a "secret". The more taxes you have on corporate income, the higher the incentive for corporations to invest in the company, so they can avoid paying taxes. This is good for the economy. On the other hand, lowering corporate taxes also generates a cascade of tax avoidance, since you have higher profits that generate the need for more complex tax avoidance schemes…
Would that explain why a lot of companies these days are doing stock buybacks?