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> The top wealthy aren't getting hundreds of millions of dollars per year via truckloads of cash which they then somehow pay a small tax rate on I believe your
by kieranmaine 5y ago
> The top wealthy aren't getting hundreds of millions of dollars per year via truckloads of cash which they then somehow pay a small tax rate on
I believe your take is incorrect. The article is talking about capital gains tax paid when investments are sold, and how it is lower (as a percentage) than payroll tax.
FTA:
"Since 2013, that long-term capital gains rate has been 20%, about half the top rate on ordinary income (37% in 2018)."
- xtracto 5y agoThis is correct for Mexico: Mid-tier income people will pay from 20% to 35% (in a progressive tax setting, granted). This is people whose taxes are collected automatically and they don't have any say in that money. Whereas rich people, they will invest in Stocks and REITS (FIBRAs in Mexico), the former has a 10% Tax while the latter (FIBRAs) doesn't have any tax (for generated "dividends"). So, rich people have better instruments to make their money grow and pay less taxes, while the average Joe is bled.
- mister_tee 5y agoIn reply to just the FTA quote (not the parent comment's content): The 20% long-term gains might also be subject to 3.8% net investment income tax, right? There is still a difference but it's closer to "about 2/3" than "about half." And the article does omit state taxes but California would tax both LTCGs and income at 13.3% for this cohort. That might be splitting hairs and I'm not justifying billionaires' tax rates. Politically I probably line up with the ProPublica stance more than not, but feel there is some hand-waving in this series of articles that distracts from the argument, especially around defining the term "true tax rate."
- gscott 5y agoThe super rick get loans against their stock holdings and spend the loans like tax free income.