2 ms·

Exactly. This is not about taxing the rich more. It's about stopping them from committing crimes/fraud/etc in the system we've already got.

• jokethrowaway 5y ago
  Given they need to hire agents to "decipher" their returns it probably means they're using legal loopholes and hiding the money outside of the US with complicated structures. Sure, they could start saying those loopholes are not good enough but then the political system would have a 600bn pressure to implement different loopholes or risk losing all of the tax revenue with people moving somewhere else. These days the USA main advantage is offering highly paid jobs and venture capital - and the ultra rich definitely don't need that. If they're still in the States and pay little tax, they most likely own the system.
  • kelnos 5y ago
    I don't think this is the case. Certainly many people avoid taxes -- entirely legally -- using loopholes and whatnot. But I believe the $600B figure cited in the article is an estimate of outright evasion: tax money that actually is owed, but people are lying or obfuscating things on their tax returns to make their tax liability seem lower. I don't think there's much of a worry that the rich will leave the US if tax rates (or enforcement efforts) go up. Federal income taxes have been much much higher in the US at various points in history, and this "rich flight" never came to pass. Certainly there will be grumbling if taxes are raised, but the rich will remain rich. And even if they move away, they still carry US tax liability, unless they renounce their US citizenship. Granted, it's harder to collect in that case, but it's still owed, and if the US government really wanted to find a way to collect it, they'd probably do a pretty good job of doing so.