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If you increased tax receipts you could justify more government building and partnerships or grants. Make those grants pay union scale or require union contract

by eppp 3y ago

If you increased tax receipts you could justify more government building and partnerships or grants. Make those grants pay union scale or require union contracts.

User23 3y ago
US federal government spending obviously isn’t constrained by tax receipts. You’d think that would be clear in this day and age of consistent trillion dollar annual deficits. Thus spending programs should be judged based on outcomes and not nominal cost. I’m all for a strong middle class. However, I don’t see how an inheritance tax that forces children to sell their parents farm or business to pay estate taxes is supposed to accomplish that though. If I wanted a large permanent asset-free working class I’d definitely aggressively tax intergenerational wealth accumulation, resting assured that the upper classes would easily dodge it with trusts, corporations, expatriation, or some other tax avoidance strategy. That sounds like an excellent strategy to crush the remaining middle class.
- adgjlsfhk1 3y ago
  inheritance tax kicks in around 10 million dollars. it doesn't touch the middle class. it touches billionaires who die and leave a hundred million to everyone in their family.
  - User23 3y ago
    Billionaires have trusts and foundations and lawyer knows what else. It doesn't touch them at all. Also a 700 acre farm, which is an at most medium size family farm, could easily have a nominal value north of 10 mil even though there's no way it's returning 1 million a year net. Same for a modestly profitable small business.
    - eppp 3y ago
      Shouldn't small businesses and farmers plan ahead and create a plan for divesting before they die or purchase life insurance with a payout large enough to cover the taxes at death? It seems like these problems are easily dealt with.
- eppp 3y ago
  We are constrained by our politics which mean in practical terms that whichever side is out of power pretends to care about deficits. "Free" chunks of money are up for grabs to spend with impunity.

by eppp 3y ago

If you increased tax receipts you could justify more government building and partnerships or grants. Make those grants pay union scale or require union contracts.

User23 3y ago

US federal government spending obviously isn’t constrained by tax receipts. You’d think that would be clear in this day and age of consistent trillion dollar annual deficits. Thus spending programs should be judged based on outcomes and not nominal cost. I’m all for a strong middle class. However, I don’t see how an inheritance tax that forces children to sell their parents farm or business to pay estate taxes is supposed to accomplish that though. If I wanted a large permanent asset-free working class I’d definitely aggressively tax intergenerational wealth accumulation, resting assured that the upper classes would easily dodge it with trusts, corporations, expatriation, or some other tax avoidance strategy. That sounds like an excellent strategy to crush the remaining middle class.

adgjlsfhk1 3y ago
inheritance tax kicks in around 10 million dollars. it doesn't touch the middle class. it touches billionaires who die and leave a hundred million to everyone in their family.
- User23 3y ago
  Billionaires have trusts and foundations and lawyer knows what else. It doesn't touch them at all. Also a 700 acre farm, which is an at most medium size family farm, could easily have a nominal value north of 10 mil even though there's no way it's returning 1 million a year net. Same for a modestly profitable small business.
  - eppp 3y ago
    Shouldn't small businesses and farmers plan ahead and create a plan for divesting before they die or purchase life insurance with a payout large enough to cover the taxes at death? It seems like these problems are easily dealt with.
eppp 3y ago
We are constrained by our politics which mean in practical terms that whichever side is out of power pretends to care about deficits. "Free" chunks of money are up for grabs to spend with impunity.