How to convert between wealth and income tax • Hacker News Board

Re: How to convert between wealth and income tax

#711

Post by ahaferburg » Sun, May 24, 2026, 11:31 PM UTC

The point of a tax is to steer society, not to compute some sort of equivalence. Billionaire wealth has increased by way more than the 5 % mentioned over the last couple of years. This oxfam article [1] says 81 percent in 6 years. Wealth for the middle class means safety and stability. Wealth for the richest of the rich means power, and that threatens any democracy. The goal should be to prevent extreme inequality. It's supposed to be one person=one vote, not one dollar=one vote.

The example mentioning $100 is just tasteless. Wealth taxes are relevant only to people for which $100 means absolutely nothing whatsoever.

The article carefully avoids clear words. What's your conclusion here, dear Paul? Why are you intentionally staying vague? Nobody asked how to convert between wealth and income tax. So exactly why are you educating the public about this topic?

[1] https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaire-wealth-j...

Re: How to convert between wealth and income tax

#712

Post by ahaferburg » Mon, May 25, 2026, 12:03 AM UTC

robertoandred wrote: post #334

keernan wrote: post #137

Completely ignores the true distinction between wealth and income taxes. Person A has one billion dollars. Holds it in cash in a vault deep in a mountain he owns. He does not earn any wages.[1] 20% income tax: $0.00 01% wealth tax: $10,000,000.00 [1] Every billionaire controls their taxable income. Unlike wage earners, billionaires have 100% control over how much taxable income they have each year. They make choices.…

Except they already paid taxes on that one billion in cash. The receipt of that cash is taxable income.

Except that billionaires don't hold cash but assets. And they did not necessarily pay taxes on the value of those assets. The idea that billionaires have vaults of cash in mountains is not a sensible basis for any argument.

Re: How to convert between wealth and income tax

#713

Post by pseudalopex » Mon, May 25, 2026, 2:49 AM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #470

dh2022 wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the ultra wealthy move out a few people will lose their jobs (their family office, some accountants, some property managers will work the same job for someone else). But overall people will not be worse off. We have been doing this exact experiment in Seattle sine 2024 when Bozos moved out. And last month Howard Schultz moved out as well. The sky did not fall. Another example- did the average Londoner get better o…

Starbucks is moving its headquarters from Seattle to Tennessee. Many other businesses that are not large enough to interest the newspaper are moving out as well.

> Starbucks is moving its headquarters from Seattle to Tennessee.

Starbucks announced they would open a large corporate office in Tennessee. It could be called a 2nd headquarters reasonably.

Re: How to convert between wealth and income tax

#714

Post by mannanj » Mon, May 25, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #693

mannanj wrote: post #689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how alpha chimps function in their tribe. They resort to war and violence to prolong their rule, and it works for long enough, thats all they need for the cost-benefits to be worth it on their side. In humanity, being the alpha chimp, you can actually just run away from the tribe with all your wealth instead of outright die and form a new identity and start a life elsewhere and change your last name and go so…

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/alpha-male-a...

Okay sure. What other concept or label would you recommend I use to describe a leader in a tribe?

Re: How to convert between wealth and income tax

#715

Post by ycdeebs » Mon, May 25, 2026, 3:03 PM UTC

well_ackshually wrote: post #698

robocat wrote: post #697

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they're buying their lives Extortion is the word that summarizes your point.

Ah yes, extortion is not the part where their disproportionate centralisation of wealth threatens your very livelihood with every action they take. Extortion isn't when they happily tell you they're going to replace you with AI. Extortion isn't when they steal your money with unpaid hours, it isn't when they threaten to fire you if you don't shut the fuck up and do as they say, when they act as a state within the sta…

Careers of insulting people are also kind of a dead end.

Re: How to convert between wealth and income tax

#716

Post by bagels » Mon, May 25, 2026, 3:26 PM UTC

throw0101a wrote: post #633

raincole wrote: post #563

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Renters will always pay one way or another. You can name it wealth tax or property tax or house tax. It doesn't matter -- the result will be higher rent.

The point of my post was to indicate that just because you're a home owner (rather than a renter) does not make you special. Property taxes are not wealth taxes, but fees for services rendered by the local government. Both home owners and renters (may) benefit from those fees.

It's a wealth tax. You're just describing what the funds are used for. Other types of wealth tax can pay for those things too.

Re: How to convert between wealth and income tax

#717

Post by solidsnack9000 » Mon, May 25, 2026, 10:48 PM UTC

i_cannot_hack wrote: post #613

solidsnack9000 wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is potentially a long conversation; but why would you start with rankings like this, which only go back a relatively short time? Broadly speaking, human welfare got a lot better in the last three hundred years, due to productivity improvements that were tied to things like property rights, joint stock companies, availability of credit, &c. We haven't really found a good alternative to it. It may seem to you that…

The HDI ranking has been published for 36 years now. And for many of those countries I would feel confident claiming the trend goes back to at least WW2, altough you would of course have to use other, contemporary metrics to support that to get a rigorous analysis. If the initial step in your theory about human wellfare is to selectively ignore the last 35 or 75 years of history in the highest wellfare countries on e…

Most of Europe post-war was very poor. I'm not sure the trend could go back as far as that.

How are you weighing the trend you highlight relative to overall long run success of private ordering, stock companies, readily available credit, strong private property protections, &c, &c, in raising people's standard of living?

Re: How to convert between wealth and income tax

#718

Post by well_ackshually » Tue, May 26, 2026, 6:48 AM UTC

ycdeebs wrote: post #715

well_ackshually wrote: post #698

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, extortion is not the part where their disproportionate centralisation of wealth threatens your very livelihood with every action they take. Extortion isn't when they happily tell you they're going to replace you with AI. Extortion isn't when they steal your money with unpaid hours, it isn't when they threaten to fire you if you don't shut the fuck up and do as they say, when they act as a state within the sta…

Careers of insulting people are also kind of a dead end.

Oh no, don't worry, that's a hobby. Never monetize your hobbies, it takes all the joy away from it.

Re: How to convert between wealth and income tax

#719

Post by tinktank » Tue, May 26, 2026, 6:45 PM UTC

scarmig wrote: post #262

outside1234 wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ultra rich are desperate to maintain their exclusive access to essentially pay no taxes through their "Buy, Borrow, Die" strategy (if you don't understand what that is you should stop and read this: https://gemini.google.com/share/e230bcecaaeb ) and so they are using scare tactics / gaslighting around wealth taxes because a wealth tax would disrupt this essentially zero tax strategy.

"Buy, borrow, die" is a bit of a bogeyman of the Left; it's not a common strategy for HNW or UHNW individuals, and to the extent it is used, there are much better ways to close it than a wealth tax, which is coarse and rife with implementation issues.

Calling everything a bogeyman without providing evidence or justification is a bit of a common deflection tactic of billionaire bootlickers.

Re: How to convert between wealth and income tax

#720

Post by tinktank » Tue, May 26, 2026, 6:51 PM UTC

noelsusman wrote: post #194

This is simultaneously incredibly condescending and hopelessly naive. Politicians understand perfectly well that a 1% wealth tax is not a small tax on wealthy individuals. That's the whole point. They are engaging in basic political rhetoric when they say things like "a mere 1% tax".

It's an attempt at muddying the waters. It's what he excels at. This is the same guy who called Sam Altman "a force of nature". That is his level of judgement.