4 ms·

> avoid inequality growing even more How do you pull that off without enforcing equality in some way?

maxxxxx 8y ago
I am not sure what you mean with equality. Not too many people want equality in the sense that no one makes more money than others. What a lot of people see is that the top x percent of population is taking larger and larger shares of economic growth for themselves and the rest doesn't really benefit much from growth. Traditionally this can be controlled with progressive taxation and distribution of that tax to lower incomes. We could also tax capital gains at the same interest rate as regular income or get rid of the mortgage deduction. These mainly benefit higher incomes and I believe the mortgage deduction drives up home prices.
- stealthmodeclan 8y ago
  Mortgage deduction makes housing affordable for working class. Rich people get richer through dividend payments or capital gains. But if they keep reinvesting the capital in their business then they'll be able to defer tax forever.. You can reduce inequality by limiting the wealth you can generate from a corporation.
  - s73v3r_ 8y ago
    "Mortgage deduction makes housing affordable for working class." In some places. And the new tax bill placed caps on those, so living in high cost of living areas, because that's where the jobs are, means you're probably not going to be able to afford a house.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    "Mortgage deduction makes housing affordable for working class." I don't believe this. People tend to max out what they pay for their mortgage so if they have a tax deduction they just will pay more for houses. Which then benefits the owning class.
    - stealthmodeclan 8y ago
      I don't believe this. People tend to max out what they pay for their mortgage so if they have a tax deduction they just will pay more for houses. Which then benefits the owning class. If you remove mortgage deduction, I'll buy 10 houses just because others can't use their deductions to offset the mortgage. There are all cash buyers sitting around the corners. I advocate for capping the total mortgage deduction.
      - maxxxxx 8y ago
        "I advocate for capping the total mortgage deduction" I agree about capping. Same for capital gains. Put a cap on it that lower income have an incentive to invest. Capping mortgage deductions would also make real estate "investing" less interesting so the money would go to other purposes than driving up house prices.
- ChrisLomont 8y ago
  >We could also tax capital gains at the same interest rate as regular income Do we then drop corporate income taxes? One reason capital gains is lower than income is because the value was also taxed on the corporate profit side. In order to make investment more appealing capital gains is thus set lower to offset the double taxation on the growth. AFAIK many (if not most) do this for this reason (and a few others, like capital gains not taking into account inflation, etc.). It's also why the rich have an effective tax rate about 10% higher than their income tax since they're paying the corporate tax. Here's [1] a CBO report on effective tax rates by income distribution showing this. [1] https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/effective_rates_0.pdf https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments...
adjkant 8y ago
Strong modifications to inheritance laws. Basic utilities/services being improved and increased such as education, healthcare, vocational training. Investment in public resources such as public transit, roads, and public parks. Increased low-income housing availability. Higher (not absolute equality) taxation rates. These aren't hard fixes and have relatively widespread support. They are just unpopular when it comes to those in power of our political system currently. And before someone says it, making things closer to equality is not enforcing full equality. We already have basic services that would qualify under that and the only way you can be consistent under that argument is to go full libertarian, which hasn't seem to have worked out practically for populations at large.
- adjkant 8y ago
  Correction: seemed

I am not sure what you mean with equality. Not too many people want equality in the sense that no one makes more money than others. What a lot of people see is that the top x percent of population is taking larger and larger shares of economic growth for themselves and the rest doesn't really benefit much from growth. Traditionally this can be controlled with progressive taxation and distribution of that tax to lower incomes. We could also tax capital gains at the same interest rate as regular income or get rid of the mortgage deduction. These mainly benefit higher incomes and I believe the mortgage deduction drives up home prices.

stealthmodeclan 8y ago
Mortgage deduction makes housing affordable for working class. Rich people get richer through dividend payments or capital gains. But if they keep reinvesting the capital in their business then they'll be able to defer tax forever.. You can reduce inequality by limiting the wealth you can generate from a corporation.
- s73v3r_ 8y ago
  "Mortgage deduction makes housing affordable for working class." In some places. And the new tax bill placed caps on those, so living in high cost of living areas, because that's where the jobs are, means you're probably not going to be able to afford a house.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  "Mortgage deduction makes housing affordable for working class." I don't believe this. People tend to max out what they pay for their mortgage so if they have a tax deduction they just will pay more for houses. Which then benefits the owning class.
  - stealthmodeclan 8y ago
    I don't believe this. People tend to max out what they pay for their mortgage so if they have a tax deduction they just will pay more for houses. Which then benefits the owning class. If you remove mortgage deduction, I'll buy 10 houses just because others can't use their deductions to offset the mortgage. There are all cash buyers sitting around the corners. I advocate for capping the total mortgage deduction.
    - maxxxxx 8y ago
      "I advocate for capping the total mortgage deduction" I agree about capping. Same for capital gains. Put a cap on it that lower income have an incentive to invest. Capping mortgage deductions would also make real estate "investing" less interesting so the money would go to other purposes than driving up house prices.
ChrisLomont 8y ago
>We could also tax capital gains at the same interest rate as regular income Do we then drop corporate income taxes? One reason capital gains is lower than income is because the value was also taxed on the corporate profit side. In order to make investment more appealing capital gains is thus set lower to offset the double taxation on the growth. AFAIK many (if not most) do this for this reason (and a few others, like capital gains not taking into account inflation, etc.). It's also why the rich have an effective tax rate about 10% higher than their income tax since they're paying the corporate tax. Here's [1] a CBO report on effective tax rates by income distribution showing this. [1] https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/effective_rates_0.pdf https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments...

adjkant 8y ago

Strong modifications to inheritance laws. Basic utilities/services being improved and increased such as education, healthcare, vocational training. Investment in public resources such as public transit, roads, and public parks. Increased low-income housing availability. Higher (not absolute equality) taxation rates. These aren't hard fixes and have relatively widespread support. They are just unpopular when it comes to those in power of our political system currently. And before someone says it, making things closer to equality is not enforcing full equality. We already have basic services that would qualify under that and the only way you can be consistent under that argument is to go full libertarian, which hasn't seem to have worked out practically for populations at large.

adjkant 8y ago
Correction: seemed