I'm neither wealthy nor the media and I believe that wealth taxes are a bad idea, too.
Well define not wealthy, if you have over $90,000 net worth you would be in the top 10% already.
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Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
61–70 of 488 posts
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? (I mostly agree but it's not a strong opinion)
If my wealth comes from owning a percentage of a company (say I own 30% of AMZN) what is the way to tax me other than taking my shares, i.e. the Gov would take certain percentage of my shares? And if we go that route how many years would it go by before Gov owned majority of shares of most companies? Lots of people scream that we should tax the wealthy but I do not follow how you tax someone whose wealth comes from l…
Simple, it’s progressive, so if you are very wealthy and own 30% of the company you might need to sell 5% to pay off wealth taxes over a few years, and you sell them to people or institutions, with less wealth (and therefore less wealth taxes due). It wouldn’t end up with the government owning the shares, it would end up with people at a tax advantage relative to you owning the shares.
Whether or not that is a good idea, I don’t know.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#63As 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…
Strange. Business owner friends of mine have taken the opposite approach over the years. Taxes low? Start up something new, get it going. Taxes go up again? Sell it off (if they haven't already) and go back to early retirement doing whatever. Maybe it is largely the type of business that behavior changes. Their last venture was starting up an aquaponics farm in a borderline urban / suburban area, though I haven't kep…
When have taxes been "going up again" exactly.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#64we already have a wealth tax.
Have cash? Inflation (cheapens govt debt) Own Property? Property Taxes. Own Equity? capital gains on realization of profits Get Dividends? Dividends are taxed. Income? Taxed.
Virtual every form of wealth is taxed. The question should be how much should it be taxed, and enforcement. A wealth tax is a nice song and dance around the issue and cannot be reasonably implemented hence why it's in the zeitgeist.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#65This is about as insightful as saying that media catering to the not-wealthy are quick to tell you wealth taxes are a great idea. This organization is not living up to it's name if it's only taking the easiest potshots imaginable at one side of the issue.
Agree that FAIR.org does not live up to its name. After skimming some, their story choices and language used seem to lean away from center and unbiased. Was really hopeful for a new news source from the domain name, such a disappointment
> center and unbiased
Those two things are not the same, nor even necessarily correlated.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#66As 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…
Strange. Business owner friends of mine have taken the opposite approach over the years. Taxes low? Start up something new, get it going. Taxes go up again? Sell it off (if they haven't already) and go back to early retirement doing whatever. Maybe it is largely the type of business that behavior changes. Their last venture was starting up an aquaponics farm in a borderline urban / suburban area, though I haven't kep…
If it's easy to sell the business off then there must be plenty of buyers. Which sounds to me like a good indicator that their response isn't a strong majority.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its not making the argument that wealth taxes are good because wealthy people oppose them, only that their point of view on the topic is deeply self serving and masquerading as an objective analysis.
> is deeply self serving To the extent that they do it for themselves alone, which is making an assumption about intent. Many wealthy people honestly believe that low taxes drive economic growth that is good for all.
No one claimed wealthy people aren't cherry picking their data to serve their own pre-existing bias. Only that, like a tobacco study funded by the tobacco industry, their claims are subject to a very evident bias and so should not be given the same weight as claims by those not suffering that bias.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#68As 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…
Strange. Business owner friends of mine have taken the opposite approach over the years. Taxes low? Start up something new, get it going. Taxes go up again? Sell it off (if they haven't already) and go back to early retirement doing whatever. Maybe it is largely the type of business that behavior changes. Their last venture was starting up an aquaponics farm in a borderline urban / suburban area, though I haven't kep…
> Taxes low? Start up something new, get it going. Taxes go up again? Sell it off (if they haven't already) and go back to early retirement doing whatever.
Sure — if you're already wealthy enough to get by without any income, that might make sense. But for most business owners the alternative is "work for someone else", not "return to early retirement".
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#69As 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…
Strange. Business owner friends of mine have taken the opposite approach over the years. Taxes low? Start up something new, get it going. Taxes go up again? Sell it off (if they haven't already) and go back to early retirement doing whatever. Maybe it is largely the type of business that behavior changes. Their last venture was starting up an aquaponics farm in a borderline urban / suburban area, though I haven't kep…
That must be business specific. At first blush, selling when taxes go up sounds like a good way to maximize your losses. But I'm in the tech industry. So aquaponics must be significantly different.
Re: Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Strange. Business owner friends of mine have taken the opposite approach over the years. Taxes low? Start up something new, get it going. Taxes go up again? Sell it off (if they haven't already) and go back to early retirement doing whatever. Maybe it is largely the type of business that behavior changes. Their last venture was starting up an aquaponics farm in a borderline urban / suburban area, though I haven't kep…
I think the OP is talking about investing within the business. The business is a separate legal entity with its own income, expenditures, and assets that is under the control of its owner. Assuming that you want to continue owning the business as a going concern, it makes sense to maximize expenditures (by investing in the future) and minimize profits when tax rates are high. But if you're happy entering and exiting…
Exactly. Corporate taxes are an incentive for businesses investing in themselves but, as I understand it, an disincentive for investors to invest in businesses. I'm mostly just bothered by how simplistic the debate is and how most people don't even understand this detail.