Bernie Sanders calls for income over $1B to be taxed at 100% • Hacker News Board

Re: Bernie Sanders calls for income over $1B to be taxed at 100%

#21

Post by toomuchtodo » Sun, May 12, 2024, 6:33 PM UTC

throwaway11460 wrote: post #20

toomuchtodo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switzerland conceded to US FATCA reporting. Whomever has the most force wins. I don’t blame you if you’re wealthy and you take a calculated risk strategy (can’t take the monkey brain out of the human), just don’t cry when you fail at evasion. Major corporations can’t withstand minor ransomware operators. What makes you think these jurisdictions can withstand superpower nation state efforts? TLDR good luck, have fun.

Reporting is nice but doesn't change anything about the problem. OK so the US knows you are a beneficiary of a trust fund in Switzerland - what can they do about it? It's not you, so they can't tax the wealth. They can tax the income you get from that, but that means the wealth tax mission has failed.

You just want to argue, so I’m going to pass. I’m not here to change your mind, it doesn’t matter if I do unless you’re a legislator or decision maker in government.

Re: Bernie Sanders calls for income over $1B to be taxed at 100%

#22

Post by throwaway11460 » Sun, May 12, 2024, 6:33 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #21

throwaway11460 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reporting is nice but doesn't change anything about the problem. OK so the US knows you are a beneficiary of a trust fund in Switzerland - what can they do about it? It's not you, so they can't tax the wealth. They can tax the income you get from that, but that means the wealth tax mission has failed.

You just want to argue, so I’m going to pass. I’m not here to change your mind, it doesn’t matter if I do unless you’re a legislator or decision maker in government.

No, I don't want to argue, I would like to understand how can anyone think this kind of idea can be implemented in the real world. I just don't see a way.

BTW I was never talking about evasion. No need for that. The wealthy people in government/legislature will never make it bulletproof, there's always a legal way - you might not get to keep 100% but you certainly won't pay 90-100%.

I don't even think it can be made bulletproof - does this mean corporations and funds are limited to 1B in size? What if it's a partnership without exact equity stakes? What if there are multiple people? What if some of them die, and later some are born? What if I get a non-equity obligation from a bank - "transfer all your wealth to us and we will pay out whatever you need up to X/year"?

And now, after you have done this and there are no more superwealthy and no more big corporations and funds, the 10th richest Chinese billionaire comes and buys everything all around the US - job well done? Or does this mean total economic isolation too?

Re: Bernie Sanders calls for income over $1B to be taxed at 100%

#23

Post by Arnt » Tue, May 14, 2024, 4:09 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #17

Arnt wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why relinquish citizenship, instead of e.g., keeping the assets in a holding company somewhere?

Because that holding company could still be found and taxed?

What do you mean: Taxing unrealized profits (assets that could be sold at a profit, but haven't been sold)? Or taxing foreign entities without a tax treaty?