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How much money does the low-taxed wealthy need that so many others need to live a paupers life style. Is there not productivity enough in our society to provide

by dv_dt 8y ago

How much money does the low-taxed wealthy need that so many others need to live a paupers life style. Is there not productivity enough in our society to provide better?

ars 8y ago
What are you talking about? The wealthy are not low taxed, the US taxes the wealthy more than just about any other OECD country. Source: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxes-compare-internationally https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxe... Figure 2.
- dv_dt 8y ago
  What are you talking about? figure 2 is a share of total tax total revenues by source. Figure 1 shows that Us total tax percentage of GDP is lower than every OECD nation out there with the only lower total tax share in the nations of Korea, Ireland, Chile and Mexico. The figure 2 breakdown also does not distinguish between taxes on Income + "profits", and capital gains and corporate taxes where the wealthy accrue significant wealth are very low in the US...
  - ars 8y ago
    Go read it again. The only reason the US is lower on a GDP basis is that the US does not have a VAT on goods and services (which as you know, hurts the poor much more than the rich). i.e. the US taxes the wealthy much more than virtually any other country.
    - dv_dt 8y ago
      The VAT figures into the "total taxes" of figure 1 as described in the last paragraph is broken out as "goods and services" category of fig 2. This still does not change the meaning of fig 1 where the US is strongly below average taxes. If the wealthy are the most taxed in the US, how is it what inequality of both income and wealth is massively skyrocketing in the US?
      - ericd 8y ago
        >If the wealthy are the most taxed in the US, how is it what inequality of both income and wealth is massively skyrocketing in the US? Asset appreciation - a massive bull run in the stock and housing markets. The side effect is that those who own assets benefit far more than those who don't. When everyone talks about Bezos making a huge amount of money this year, they're talking about his unrealized gains. If he actually tried to realize those gains into USD (at which point he'd pay taxes), his wealth would shrink very quickly as Amazon's market price dropped. Also, VAT is a relatively regressive tax.

by dv_dt 8y ago

How much money does the low-taxed wealthy need that so many others need to live a paupers life style. Is there not productivity enough in our society to provide better?

ars 8y ago

What are you talking about? The wealthy are not low taxed, the US taxes the wealthy more than just about any other OECD country. Source: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxes-compare-internationally https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxe... Figure 2.

dv_dt 8y ago
What are you talking about? figure 2 is a share of total tax total revenues by source. Figure 1 shows that Us total tax percentage of GDP is lower than every OECD nation out there with the only lower total tax share in the nations of Korea, Ireland, Chile and Mexico. The figure 2 breakdown also does not distinguish between taxes on Income + "profits", and capital gains and corporate taxes where the wealthy accrue significant wealth are very low in the US...
- ars 8y ago
  Go read it again. The only reason the US is lower on a GDP basis is that the US does not have a VAT on goods and services (which as you know, hurts the poor much more than the rich). i.e. the US taxes the wealthy much more than virtually any other country.
  - dv_dt 8y ago
    The VAT figures into the "total taxes" of figure 1 as described in the last paragraph is broken out as "goods and services" category of fig 2. This still does not change the meaning of fig 1 where the US is strongly below average taxes. If the wealthy are the most taxed in the US, how is it what inequality of both income and wealth is massively skyrocketing in the US?
    - ericd 8y ago
      >If the wealthy are the most taxed in the US, how is it what inequality of both income and wealth is massively skyrocketing in the US? Asset appreciation - a massive bull run in the stock and housing markets. The side effect is that those who own assets benefit far more than those who don't. When everyone talks about Bezos making a huge amount of money this year, they're talking about his unrealized gains. If he actually tried to realize those gains into USD (at which point he'd pay taxes), his wealth would shrink very quickly as Amazon's market price dropped. Also, VAT is a relatively regressive tax.