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I doubt we taxed him anywhere near his fair share. That effective tax rates decline with wealth floors me. It also bothers me how cut throat capitalists grow in
by rgifford 5y ago
I doubt we taxed him anywhere near his fair share. That effective tax rates decline with wealth floors me. It also bothers me how cut throat capitalists grow into philanthropists as they become old and vulnerable. Years tax dodging, suppressing wages, lobbying, and engaging in veiled class warfare to gain every bit of wealth possible. And then they deign to give a fraction of what was owed the people (for roads, the internet, public safety, etc.) back in bits and spurts to be celebrated as generous. It makes me laugh.
At least your run-of-the-mill Scrooge has the decency to be consistent, to be hated.
While I say all that, I am also glad he's donating.
- savant_penguin 5y agoHow much is a fair share?
- rgifford 5y agoFrom what I've read the uber wealthy pay an effective tax rate of ~10%. US voters and legislators have set our top tax brackets at ~40%. What is a fair tax rate? I don't know. Less is more IMO. But by the terms we've all agreed on, the uber wealthy skimp by ~3/4.
- visarga 5y agoMoney you need to spend is different from money you can save or invest. That's why they can do it.
- rgifford 5y agoMost Americans don't have money to save or invest. Capital gains functionally rewrites tax brackets. There's lots of ways to make sure that people so rich they don't have to wage earn pay their fair share. We choose not to.
- AlchemistCamp 5y agoAnother important consideration, is that the complexity of a tax system is itself a regressive tax. If hiring an accountant can decrease the amount of tax you need to pay, the tax rate is effectively higher for those who can afford an accountant than for those who can't.
- rycomb 5y agoI have contradictory feelings about this. It's as if the system instilled some anti-taxation, anti-regulation thoughts in anyone participating in a small sized endeavour, thus intending for most people to empathize with corporations. Having dealt with the exasperations of trying to start a small business from California (years ago), the burden of bureaucracy seemed nowhere proportional to the short-term aspirations... resulting in a quite negative influence to the initial intentions of the projects to be performed. I guess that my wish is that they'd make at least trivial to have any entrepreneurial activity (well, maybe it boils down to the state your business is in), until it really grows into something (morally?) taxable.