4 ms·

Why should Joe Schmoe earning an honest $75K/year have less say than that though?

by turar 11y ago

haberman 11y ago
Mark Zuckerberg isn't taking anything away from the $75k/year guy. He just has more because he created something valuable. If you are an artist so good that your paintings are worth $1M each, should you get to have them? Or should someone walk in your door and say "whoa there, you have too much now, we're taking your paintings until you have the same amount of wealth as the $75k/year guy"?
- stephenr 11y ago
  > If you are an artist so good that your paintings are worth $1M each, should you get to have them? Or should someone walk in your door and say "whoa there, you have too much now, we're taking your paintings until you have the same amount of wealth as the $75k/year guy"? If you paint million dollar paintings and leave them in your studio, I guarantee you the IRS will not knock on your door and say "you have too many paintings now, we're going to take them now". If you sell those paintings, and make an INCOME, the IRS will expect you to pay INCOME TAX. Seriously. How is the basic concept of taxes so hard to understand?
  - res0nat0r 11y ago
    Zuck is paying his taxes and isn't breaking any laws with any of this. The OP submission and most of these replies really sounds like jealousy than anything else.
    - stephenr 11y ago
      The comment I replied to was talking about a tax agency coming into your home/office and claiming privately created artworks because you "have too many".
  - haberman 11y ago
    Wealth taxes exist in other countries and are proposed by some people for the US. I was speaking generally and not in reference to a specific tax regime. And besides, converting the paintings to money would be necessary before it could be used for charitable purposes anyway, so the distinction you are drawing is not very relevant. I'm not opposed to taxes but I am opposed to the idea that taxes should equalize everyone's wealth and that all big investment should come from the government.
    - turar 11y ago
      My point was that it's not fair that someone gets to pay a smaller tax rate just because his taxable base is larger. If anything, it should be the other way around. My original income tax vs. capital gains tax parallel was wrong though, but the premise is the same. If Joe Schmoe has managed to invest $5K in the stock market and grew it to $10K, his capital gains tax rate shouldn't be higher than Zuck's.

Why should Joe Schmoe earning an honest $75K/year have less say than that though?

by turar 11y ago

Why should Joe Schmoe earning an honest $75K/year have less say than that though?

Mark Zuckerberg isn't taking anything away from the $75k/year guy. He just has more because he created something valuable. If you are an artist so good that your paintings are worth $1M each, should you get to have them? Or should someone walk in your door and say "whoa there, you have too much now, we're taking your paintings until you have the same amount of wealth as the $75k/year guy"?

stephenr 11y ago
> If you are an artist so good that your paintings are worth $1M each, should you get to have them? Or should someone walk in your door and say "whoa there, you have too much now, we're taking your paintings until you have the same amount of wealth as the $75k/year guy"? If you paint million dollar paintings and leave them in your studio, I guarantee you the IRS will not knock on your door and say "you have too many paintings now, we're going to take them now". If you sell those paintings, and make an INCOME, the IRS will expect you to pay INCOME TAX. Seriously. How is the basic concept of taxes so hard to understand?
- res0nat0r 11y ago
  Zuck is paying his taxes and isn't breaking any laws with any of this. The OP submission and most of these replies really sounds like jealousy than anything else.
  - stephenr 11y ago
    The comment I replied to was talking about a tax agency coming into your home/office and claiming privately created artworks because you "have too many".
- haberman 11y ago
  Wealth taxes exist in other countries and are proposed by some people for the US. I was speaking generally and not in reference to a specific tax regime. And besides, converting the paintings to money would be necessary before it could be used for charitable purposes anyway, so the distinction you are drawing is not very relevant. I'm not opposed to taxes but I am opposed to the idea that taxes should equalize everyone's wealth and that all big investment should come from the government.
  - turar 11y ago
    My point was that it's not fair that someone gets to pay a smaller tax rate just because his taxable base is larger. If anything, it should be the other way around. My original income tax vs. capital gains tax parallel was wrong though, but the premise is the same. If Joe Schmoe has managed to invest $5K in the stock market and grew it to $10K, his capital gains tax rate shouldn't be higher than Zuck's.