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He's also missing the point that he's in the vocal minority of people who are not motivated by the tax rate and that there are many other people who expend time
by bd_at_rivenhill 16y ago
He's also missing the point that he's in the vocal minority of people who are not motivated by the tax rate and that there are many other people who expend time and money hiring accountants and lawyers to structure their investments in ways that avoids these taxes. Why pay 28 to 35 percent when you can pay 15 percent, which probably ends up looking more like 18 percent after all the fees? These people do not go around writing articles about it because they don't want any attention from the media or the IRS but they certainly do exist.
- hga 16y agoAnd even more people don't "expend time and money hiring accountants and lawyers to structure their investments", they just do simple obvious things, like put money into tax free municipal bonds instead of things that might grow the economy (for a worst case, a money losing stadium complex vs. a startup). I watched my parent's economic behavior change quite a bit after the Carter and Reagan tax cuts, specifically on capital gains (yes, Carter started this and the general deregulation of the economy, e.g. air travel and trucks), on "unearned" income (70% before the Reagan tax cuts), etc. Their behavior and many others became economically much more productive, resulting in the long boom from 1983-4 to the "new normal" we fear will come from the Great Recession and the responses to it.