Pro Publica tax info leak

HHusky

Administering it would be a challenge, but is a wealth tax really a terrible idea in principle?

HHusky

Race votes "pshaw!"

greenblood

You don't think the rich already have a plan in place? Either most of their property becomes foreign property, or it's transferred into other entities. As long as rich people are the ones modifying the tax code, rich people will continue to benefit from the tax code. Principle has nothing to do with it. It has to do with execution, and there will never be an efficient way of executing it. The people that get screwed by these code revisions are people who are fairly wealthy but not quite wealthy enough.

HHusky

greenblood said:

You don't think the rich already have a plan in place? Either most of their property becomes foreign property, or it's transferred into other entities. As long as rich people are the ones modifying the tax code, rich people will continue to benefit from the tax code. Principle has nothing to do with it. It has to do with execution, and there will never be an efficient way of executing it. The people that get screwed by these code revisions are people who are fairly wealthy but not quite wealthy enough.

All taxes can be evaded, whether successfully or not. The fact the super rich have oversize influence is just one of the many good reasons for enacting a wealth tax. And perhaps campaign finance reform as well.

RaceBannon

Using an article about income tax when billionaires don't have income proves @greenblood 's point.

HHusky

RaceBannon said:

Using an article about income tax when billionaires don't have income proves @greenblood 's point.

We haven't always taxed incomes either.

It is possible to change the law.

Sources

The only way to go after real wealth is to either tax net worth (good luck with that) or estates. Otherwise you're just beating up lower end millionaires and creating a larger wealth gap. This arbitrary 400k income level that Biden is targeting is FS

greenblood

Sources said:

The only way to go after real wealth is to either tax net worth (good luck with that) or estates. Otherwise you're just beating up lower end millionaires and creating a larger wealth gap. This arbitrary 400k income level that Biden is targeting is FS

THIS

$400k household income isn't rich anymore. It was rich maybe 25 years ago, but not anymore.

All the Dems are going to do is make life more difficult for the well off, but not elite. You really think rich people are going to create a tax that makes them pay more? Hell no. It's going to get thrown at the successful but not uber rich entrepreneurs and small to mid level business owners. The same people that employ people like HHusky. This is how people like HHusky lose their jobs.

HoustonHusky

HHusky said:

Administering it would be a challenge, but is a wealth tax really a terrible idea in principle?

That's what you got out of it? Not the fact raising income taxes doesn't impact them so that's why Buffet and Company always say we should? Or the Estate tax doesn't impact them so they don't mind raising that as well? Or even Buffet laughing at Government spending waste?

Not a bright one...

HHusky

Sources said:

The only way to go after real wealth is to either tax net worth (good luck with that) or estates. Otherwise you're just beating up lower end millionaires and creating a larger wealth gap. This arbitrary 400k income level that Biden is targeting is FS

Indeed, the estate tax is a wealth tax and Biden is merely talking about income taxes, which can have minimal impact on people who don't need to receive income regularly and who have the ability to time their receipt of income.

In my opinion we need to have an estate tax, at least. But a net worth tax would be better in my opinion, if you had to choose between the two--which we don't have to do actually.

PurpleThrobber

Consumption/VAT tax far better than a wealth tax.

Granny bought her house in Laurelhurst in 1958 for whatever $45,000?

Now it's worth a gazillion and she's still living there....so he has to come up with an ungodly amount of cash on appreciation without a liquidity event? Fuck that.

Fuck all taxes. Maybe spend a few years reigning in spending instead. You know, like normal businesses have to do.