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I have to run out so I don't have time to write a thoughtful response. I tend to agree, but there's a glaring issue. > I would rather high tax payers get hikes

I have to run out so I don't have time to write a thoughtful response. I tend to agree, but there's a glaring issue. > I would rather high tax payers get hikes in a strained economy than low wage earners. Economic welfare should only be borne by those who can afford to pay higher taxes. This is only true up until a point. The tax burden in many countries is held by the middle and upper-middle class. The ultra-wealthy do not pay an equivalent or fair share; Warren Buffet famously claims he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. Someone going from $100,000 to $200,000 is still going to re-circulate a lot of money into taxes and local businesses. Someone who has $1,000,000,000 already has more money than they can reasonably spend in a lifetime, and can leverage their tremendous wealth to avoid paying their fair share of taxes (and in many cases any taxes whatsoever).

NoRagrets 4y ago
The tax burden is held by the middle class only in countries like Scandinavian and EU countries where capitalism has a heavy dose of socialism. Which only proves that it’s not a potent enough mix and just capitalism alone will keep the engines of a society running. Like in the United States. Hands down, quality of life is better in the United States. It is a combination of low population density and commitment to capitalism. One can consider long vacations and lunch breaks as ‘better quality of life’, but I am mostly talking about access to material things and things like power and energy. Generally access to free and/odd cheap energy is the gateway to better quality of life and abundance. Everything else is a solvable problem with policy and legislation. United States may be lacking in certain social metrics but it’s solvable. But where cheap energy is lacking, the economy( and eventually society) will decay and die. Scandinavian flavour of socialism works because most have access to energy and have low population density. But even so, the burden is on the middle class. In California, otoh, [..] The richest 1% of California tax filers pay the largest share of their income in state and local taxes (12.3%), but the 20% of filers with the lowest incomes pay the next highest share (11.4%). [..] This is why capitalism has single handedly raised quality of life world over(think India, Africa rather than Western Europe)than socialism or communism. Even China benefited from capitalism. + https://calmatters.org/explainers/the-open-secret-about-california-taxes/ https://calmatters.org/explainers/the-open-secret-about-cali...

NoRagrets 4y ago

The tax burden is held by the middle class only in countries like Scandinavian and EU countries where capitalism has a heavy dose of socialism. Which only proves that it’s not a potent enough mix and just capitalism alone will keep the engines of a society running. Like in the United States. Hands down, quality of life is better in the United States. It is a combination of low population density and commitment to capitalism. One can consider long vacations and lunch breaks as ‘better quality of life’, but I am mostly talking about access to material things and things like power and energy. Generally access to free and/odd cheap energy is the gateway to better quality of life and abundance. Everything else is a solvable problem with policy and legislation. United States may be lacking in certain social metrics but it’s solvable. But where cheap energy is lacking, the economy( and eventually society) will decay and die. Scandinavian flavour of socialism works because most have access to energy and have low population density. But even so, the burden is on the middle class. In California, otoh, [..] The richest 1% of California tax filers pay the largest share of their income in state and local taxes (12.3%), but the 20% of filers with the lowest incomes pay the next highest share (11.4%). [..] This is why capitalism has single handedly raised quality of life world over(think India, Africa rather than Western Europe)than socialism or communism. Even China benefited from capitalism. + https://calmatters.org/explainers/the-open-secret-about-california-taxes/ https://calmatters.org/explainers/the-open-secret-about-cali...