4 ms·

We are already taxing the rich though?

b112 5y ago
Some think taxing the rich is some eternal well of a problem solve. This well can be run dry very fast, when one talks about state level spending. And once dry, and once shown that all efforts lead to naught, is stays dry. An example? I just work less, rather than pay more tax, and lose certain tax breaks. Why would I toil more, only to make less per hour?
- bdavis__ 5y ago
  one just has to identify how society determines the "rich", and how much to require. both of these are very difficult questions. i want to tax the rich! yes, i do. lets take a reasonable share and deal with societies ill's. let's not take all their money; just the excess that there is no reasonable chance that an individual could use it. for example, you could raise my takes $100 a month and it would not be missed, or noticed. in Elon's case, $10M a month would be nothing.
  - mccorrinall 5y ago
    You can't just dump all his shares into the market and expect it to absorb it. He still pays capital gains tax when he is realizing profits though.
- aspenmayer 5y ago
  If you earn a wage, or otherwise rely on an earned income to live or sustain yourself, you’re not rich in the same sense that you’re using the word. Wealth and income are not the same.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- sascha_sl 5y ago
  The "rich" people you generally want to tax do not toil, their income is all generated by capital (aka "passive income"), not labor.
mschuster91 5y ago
We are not. The amount of the wealth of billionaires and their number has exploded since the "golden 80s" era, and the corporate and individual tax rate has plummeted correspondingly since then. We had so much tax money that we used to build and maintain swimming pools even in tiny villages. These days, after they had to close for lack of tax base, we have record numbers of children drowning because they have no nearby and affordable place where they can learn to swim.
sascha_sl 5y ago
We're very bad at doing it in any way that'd matter to them. https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.575768.de/dp1717.pdf https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.57576...
hansel_der 5y ago
sure we do, the question is of course "how". afaik income tax is "progressive" in most nations but practically hyperbolic aka progressive in a way that is just barely true to the meaning of the word.

b112 5y ago

Some think taxing the rich is some eternal well of a problem solve. This well can be run dry very fast, when one talks about state level spending. And once dry, and once shown that all efforts lead to naught, is stays dry. An example? I just work less, rather than pay more tax, and lose certain tax breaks. Why would I toil more, only to make less per hour?

bdavis__ 5y ago
one just has to identify how society determines the "rich", and how much to require. both of these are very difficult questions. i want to tax the rich! yes, i do. lets take a reasonable share and deal with societies ill's. let's not take all their money; just the excess that there is no reasonable chance that an individual could use it. for example, you could raise my takes $100 a month and it would not be missed, or noticed. in Elon's case, $10M a month would be nothing.
- mccorrinall 5y ago
  You can't just dump all his shares into the market and expect it to absorb it. He still pays capital gains tax when he is realizing profits though.
aspenmayer 5y ago
If you earn a wage, or otherwise rely on an earned income to live or sustain yourself, you’re not rich in the same sense that you’re using the word. Wealth and income are not the same.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
sascha_sl 5y ago
The "rich" people you generally want to tax do not toil, their income is all generated by capital (aka "passive income"), not labor.

mschuster91 5y ago

We are not. The amount of the wealth of billionaires and their number has exploded since the "golden 80s" era, and the corporate and individual tax rate has plummeted correspondingly since then. We had so much tax money that we used to build and maintain swimming pools even in tiny villages. These days, after they had to close for lack of tax base, we have record numbers of children drowning because they have no nearby and affordable place where they can learn to swim.

sascha_sl 5y ago

We're very bad at doing it in any way that'd matter to them. https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.575768.de/dp1717.pdf https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.57576...

hansel_der 5y ago

sure we do, the question is of course "how". afaik income tax is "progressive" in most nations but practically hyperbolic aka progressive in a way that is just barely true to the meaning of the word.