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>>>tax the rich to fund social security systems worth their name and actually usable public transport If you not only taxed the rich but confiscated the entire

>>>tax the rich to fund social security systems worth their name and actually usable public transport If you not only taxed the rich but confiscated the entire net worth of the top 1%....it wouldn't even fund the Federal government for 10 years ($41.5T vs ~$4.5T).[1][2] That's barely two Presidential terms. What next? [1]https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/23/how-much-wealth-top-1percent-of-americans-have.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/23/how-much-wealth-top-1percent... [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget

mschuster91 5y ago
Over the last fifty years, we see a steady decline in corporate taxes (from somewhat 48% in 1970 to 21% currently [1]), as well as an explosion of extreme wealth concentration - and complaints from actual billionaires that they're paying a lower tax rate than their secretary [2]. Correspondingly, we see a drop in investments in infrastructure [3]. How about you Americans go and reverse that trend? That won't need confiscation of the 1%'s wealth, but will massively improve the quality of life of the average American. Regarding social security systems, follow the European model - single payer healthcare, no for-profit middlemen in administration gobbling up money for "bullshit jobs" - and you won't even need to spend any more tax money. To the contrary, European healthcare systems spend half the amount per capita than the US [4], with worse outcomes (as measured in years of life expectancy, [5]). [1]: https://www.epi.org/publication/ib364-corporate-tax-rates-and-economic-growth/ https://www.epi.org/publication/ib364-corporate-tax-rates-an... [2]: https://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secretary-taxes/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secret... [3]: https://fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/rayfair/pdf/2019d.PDF https://fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/rayfair/pdf/2019d.PDF [4]: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/ https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-... [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe...
throwaway946513 5y ago
Lest us forget Reagan-nomics, slash our taxes, and then instead, increase military spending - whilst stealing money... sorry, allocating money from social security for spending on say... military needs.

mschuster91 5y ago

Over the last fifty years, we see a steady decline in corporate taxes (from somewhat 48% in 1970 to 21% currently [1]), as well as an explosion of extreme wealth concentration - and complaints from actual billionaires that they're paying a lower tax rate than their secretary [2]. Correspondingly, we see a drop in investments in infrastructure [3]. How about you Americans go and reverse that trend? That won't need confiscation of the 1%'s wealth, but will massively improve the quality of life of the average American. Regarding social security systems, follow the European model - single payer healthcare, no for-profit middlemen in administration gobbling up money for "bullshit jobs" - and you won't even need to spend any more tax money. To the contrary, European healthcare systems spend half the amount per capita than the US [4], with worse outcomes (as measured in years of life expectancy, [5]). [1]: https://www.epi.org/publication/ib364-corporate-tax-rates-and-economic-growth/ https://www.epi.org/publication/ib364-corporate-tax-rates-an... [2]: https://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secretary-taxes/index.html https://money.cnn.com/2013/03/04/news/economy/buffett-secret... [3]: https://fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/rayfair/pdf/2019d.PDF https://fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/rayfair/pdf/2019d.PDF [4]: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/ https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-... [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe...

throwaway946513 5y ago

Lest us forget Reagan-nomics, slash our taxes, and then instead, increase military spending - whilst stealing money... sorry, allocating money from social security for spending on say... military needs.