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I assume there's a jealousy component. That being said, the current tax code is pretty unfair and stupid, but a wealth tax is not the answer. Fixing the tax br

I assume there's a jealousy component. That being said, the current tax code is pretty unfair and stupid, but a wealth tax is not the answer. Fixing the tax brackets (which currently top out federally when you earn ~500K or so, instead of increasing exponentially up to the highest earners), and increasing the capital gains (including long term) tax brackets would go a long way to fix the problem. It baffles me when presumably smart people on HN overlook the simple solution and clamor for a wealth tax, which would be incredibly expensive and impractical to implement, require Orwellian surveillance of people's property, and would potentially upend the pattern of having the most productive people in society tying all of their net worth to their company, and not being beholden to short-sighted boards of directors.

HumblyTossed 3y ago
> I assume there's a jealousy component. Really? I somehow doubt that. I'm not jealous of Bezos, Musk, etc. With my income, I have money left over after I buy the essentials and the non-essentials. I honestly have no idea what I would even do with a billion dollars except give almost all of it away. I don't want a mansion. I don't want a million dollar sports car. I don't want to pay a captain a full time salary to sit in a marina waiting on me to decide to take a cruise. I don't want any of that. I don't. What I want if for kids to have free lunches and a great education. I want homeless to be taken in and given shelter and food. I wan't everyone to be able to just go see a doctor on a regular basis. Those are things I want. And the wealthy are keeping those things from happening. Either by electing (or being elected) people who won't do it or just not paying fair amount of taxes.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  What's stopping you from voting for the things you want and voting for your own taxes to go up (and everyone making around the same as or more than you) to pay for it? Why target a few billionaires with an entirely new type of tax system rather than just increasing the rates and decreasing the legal deductions on the system we have now? You already admitted that you have more money than you need? Why not divert that, via taxation, to the things you want?
  - HumblyTossed 3y ago
    I never vote against increasing my taxes unless it doesn't make sense what it's going to be used for. Nothing I said indicated to the contrary. Nothing I said indicated that I wasn't willing to put up my own money also.
  - avgcorrection 3y ago
    Nothing is stopping them from voting on those things... if they are on the agenda. But with a duopoly consisting of two business-oriented parties you are unlikely to see it on the agenda.
- lend000 3y ago
  > What I want if for kids to have free lunches and a great education. I want homeless to be taken in and given shelter and food. I wan't everyone to be able to just go see a doctor on a regular basis. It's not that I disagree with the content of the platitudes you are preaching, but it's so nonspecific, pointless, and self-righteous that I have no idea what you want, except to "tax the rich", which is meaningless, since they are obviously already taxed. I advocate for a specific, true progressive income tax bracket that stretches brackets up logarithmically to within an order of magnitude of the highest earner from the previous year, and also applies to the current long term capital gain situation. That's the solution to increasing income disparity, but I don't think being rich is some inherent evil. > And the wealthy are keeping those things from happening. Assuming you can prove your conspiracy, what is your solution? Killing them? Why not just fix the tax brackets? My point is that you and many others spend a lot of energy harboring negative intentions toward people who have done nothing to you simply because those people have a lot of money, even if they earned that money through voluntary value generation. Maybe you don't like to call it jealousy, but it's something unhealthy. Besides, one could argue that Elon Musk, with all his flaws, has generated a lot more value to society than you or I or the equivalent increase in budget for the Department of Education if you taxed him into oblivion (such that he couldn't start SpaceX or buy a controlling stake in Tesla) after he sold his stake in Paypal...

HumblyTossed 3y ago

> I assume there's a jealousy component. Really? I somehow doubt that. I'm not jealous of Bezos, Musk, etc. With my income, I have money left over after I buy the essentials and the non-essentials. I honestly have no idea what I would even do with a billion dollars except give almost all of it away. I don't want a mansion. I don't want a million dollar sports car. I don't want to pay a captain a full time salary to sit in a marina waiting on me to decide to take a cruise. I don't want any of that. I don't. What I want if for kids to have free lunches and a great education. I want homeless to be taken in and given shelter and food. I wan't everyone to be able to just go see a doctor on a regular basis. Those are things I want. And the wealthy are keeping those things from happening. Either by electing (or being elected) people who won't do it or just not paying fair amount of taxes.

sokoloff 3y ago
What's stopping you from voting for the things you want and voting for your own taxes to go up (and everyone making around the same as or more than you) to pay for it? Why target a few billionaires with an entirely new type of tax system rather than just increasing the rates and decreasing the legal deductions on the system we have now? You already admitted that you have more money than you need? Why not divert that, via taxation, to the things you want?
- HumblyTossed 3y ago
  I never vote against increasing my taxes unless it doesn't make sense what it's going to be used for. Nothing I said indicated to the contrary. Nothing I said indicated that I wasn't willing to put up my own money also.
- avgcorrection 3y ago
  Nothing is stopping them from voting on those things... if they are on the agenda. But with a duopoly consisting of two business-oriented parties you are unlikely to see it on the agenda.
lend000 3y ago
> What I want if for kids to have free lunches and a great education. I want homeless to be taken in and given shelter and food. I wan't everyone to be able to just go see a doctor on a regular basis. It's not that I disagree with the content of the platitudes you are preaching, but it's so nonspecific, pointless, and self-righteous that I have no idea what you want, except to "tax the rich", which is meaningless, since they are obviously already taxed. I advocate for a specific, true progressive income tax bracket that stretches brackets up logarithmically to within an order of magnitude of the highest earner from the previous year, and also applies to the current long term capital gain situation. That's the solution to increasing income disparity, but I don't think being rich is some inherent evil. > And the wealthy are keeping those things from happening. Assuming you can prove your conspiracy, what is your solution? Killing them? Why not just fix the tax brackets? My point is that you and many others spend a lot of energy harboring negative intentions toward people who have done nothing to you simply because those people have a lot of money, even if they earned that money through voluntary value generation. Maybe you don't like to call it jealousy, but it's something unhealthy. Besides, one could argue that Elon Musk, with all his flaws, has generated a lot more value to society than you or I or the equivalent increase in budget for the Department of Education if you taxed him into oblivion (such that he couldn't start SpaceX or buy a controlling stake in Tesla) after he sold his stake in Paypal...