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Taxes must go up, on our shrinking young population (right as we deport more and more immigrants and dissuade new ones from coming here). Great, Japan here we c

by aprilthird2021 1y ago

Taxes must go up, on our shrinking young population (right as we deport more and more immigrants and dissuade new ones from coming here). Great, Japan here we come

toomuchtodo 1y ago
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-breakdown-of-who-owns-americas-wealth/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-breakdown-of-who-o... “For reference, the total net worth of all U.S. households is close to $160 trillion. The rich half (top 50%) own about $156 trillion (or about 98% of it). The poorer half only own about $4 trillion. Breaking down that top half even further, the top 1% (1.3 million families) owns about $49 trillion (or about one-third of the total share) by themselves. And going even further, about half of that $49 trillion is owned by the top 0.1%. That’s only around 136,000 households and includes all of America’s wealthiest people.” Tax wealth, not work, roughly speaking. With that said, stagnation is inevitable due to demographic dynamics. Historical economic prosperity was because of a demographic dividend that won’t be repeated in our lifetimes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43861997 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43861997 (citations)
- dgfitz 1y ago
  Wealth is taxed, there’s just a ton of loopholes. It should be illegal to borrow with stock as collateral. This makes tax avoidance really easy for wealthy people. Nobody needs as much wealth as the top 1%. Limits and incentives need to be put in place to essentially create a luxury tax. Stock buybacks should be disincentivized. Companies holding so much money in cash sitting on the sidelines (Apple) don’t stimulate the economy. The US has an embarrassing amount of money, it’s just all manipulated away from the market and the people.
  - toomuchtodo 1y ago
    The logistics can be argued elsewhere, I’m simply saying that is where you can tax; there is nowhere else of material value to. The majority of US households can’t even afford to survive, let alone face a tax burden. > For the bottom 60% of U.S. households, a "minimal quality of life" is out of reach, according to the group, a research organization focused on improving lower earners' economic well-being. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cost-of-living-income-quality-of-life/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cost-of-living-income-quality-o... https://lisep.org/mql https://lisep.org/mql
    - dgfitz 1y ago
      Oh, I wasn’t disagreeing with you or trying to argue anything. I agree with your points.
  - Animats 1y ago
    Some countries have a net-worth tax. Here are Switzerland's rules and tax rates.[1] There are few exemptions. The canton of Geneva charges about 0.9% of net worth per year. [1] https://fidulex.ch/en/swiss-wealth-tax/ https://fidulex.ch/en/swiss-wealth-tax/
  - sfifs 1y ago
    > The US has an embarrassing amount of money, it’s just all manipulated away from the market and the people. Well if the people consistently elect the wealthy to govern, would that not be the direct result of the wealthy looking after their interests?

Taxes must go up, on our shrinking young population (right as we deport more and more immigrants and dissuade new ones from coming here). Great, Japan here we come

toomuchtodo 1y ago

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-breakdown-of-who-owns-americas-wealth/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/a-visual-breakdown-of-who-o... “For reference, the total net worth of all U.S. households is close to $160 trillion. The rich half (top 50%) own about $156 trillion (or about 98% of it). The poorer half only own about $4 trillion. Breaking down that top half even further, the top 1% (1.3 million families) owns about $49 trillion (or about one-third of the total share) by themselves. And going even further, about half of that $49 trillion is owned by the top 0.1%. That’s only around 136,000 households and includes all of America’s wealthiest people.” Tax wealth, not work, roughly speaking. With that said, stagnation is inevitable due to demographic dynamics. Historical economic prosperity was because of a demographic dividend that won’t be repeated in our lifetimes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43861997 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43861997 (citations)

dgfitz 1y ago
Wealth is taxed, there’s just a ton of loopholes. It should be illegal to borrow with stock as collateral. This makes tax avoidance really easy for wealthy people. Nobody needs as much wealth as the top 1%. Limits and incentives need to be put in place to essentially create a luxury tax. Stock buybacks should be disincentivized. Companies holding so much money in cash sitting on the sidelines (Apple) don’t stimulate the economy. The US has an embarrassing amount of money, it’s just all manipulated away from the market and the people.
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  The logistics can be argued elsewhere, I’m simply saying that is where you can tax; there is nowhere else of material value to. The majority of US households can’t even afford to survive, let alone face a tax burden. > For the bottom 60% of U.S. households, a "minimal quality of life" is out of reach, according to the group, a research organization focused on improving lower earners' economic well-being. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cost-of-living-income-quality-of-life/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cost-of-living-income-quality-o... https://lisep.org/mql https://lisep.org/mql
  - dgfitz 1y ago
    Oh, I wasn’t disagreeing with you or trying to argue anything. I agree with your points.
- Animats 1y ago
  Some countries have a net-worth tax. Here are Switzerland's rules and tax rates.[1] There are few exemptions. The canton of Geneva charges about 0.9% of net worth per year. [1] https://fidulex.ch/en/swiss-wealth-tax/ https://fidulex.ch/en/swiss-wealth-tax/
- sfifs 1y ago
  > The US has an embarrassing amount of money, it’s just all manipulated away from the market and the people. Well if the people consistently elect the wealthy to govern, would that not be the direct result of the wealthy looking after their interests?