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I suspect a good percentage of the people reading HN fully expect to be millionaires or billionaires one day, so they probably aren't too keen to increase taxes

I suspect a good percentage of the people reading HN fully expect to be millionaires or billionaires one day, so they probably aren't too keen to increase taxes for the super rich.

ThrowawayR2 1y ago
"Millionaires comprise about 8.8% of the American population." according to https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/05/23/the-making-of-a-millionaire-and-why-100k-is-no-longer-the-benchmark-salary-for-wealth-in-america/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/05/23/the-making... and that's the general U.S. population. It's probably an order of magnitude higher for HN.
- hermitcrab 1y ago
  A million dollars of accumulated wealth was a lot of money, when the term was first coined in the 18th century. Nowadays, not so much.
- bryanlarsen 1y ago
  Anybody with a good pension plan is effectively a millionaire too. Upon retirement you're likely better off with a pension plan that pays a guaranteed $40K/year than with a million dollars in the bank.
  - josefritzishere 1y ago
    Pensions are almost unobtanium in the US.
    - bryanlarsen 1y ago
      15 percent of American workers in the private sector have a job with a defined benefit pension. (https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/15-percent-of-private-industry-workers-had-access-to-a-defined-benefit-retirement-plan.htm https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/15-percent-of-private-indu...). Most workers in the public sector have a defined benefit pension, which almost doubles the number. 25% of workers is a significant percentage.
spwa4 1y ago
The problem is what governments mean by "super rich" and what people expect it to mean. They expect it to mean 10 million in assets and up, at minimum. What governments mean: $30k in "assets" and up. I get it. If you don't do that the tax base is too small, and they just preemptively give up on taxing the actual super-rich. I'm quite allright with taxing billionnaires, no question. Even when in the millions, by all means, tax away. But please only start increasing tax when we're like 50% above a downpayment for a decent house. And this is not what's happening.

I suspect a good percentage of the people reading HN fully expect to be millionaires or billionaires one day, so they probably aren't too keen to increase taxes for the super rich.

ThrowawayR2 1y ago

"Millionaires comprise about 8.8% of the American population." according to https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/05/23/the-making-of-a-millionaire-and-why-100k-is-no-longer-the-benchmark-salary-for-wealth-in-america/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/05/23/the-making... and that's the general U.S. population. It's probably an order of magnitude higher for HN.

hermitcrab 1y ago
A million dollars of accumulated wealth was a lot of money, when the term was first coined in the 18th century. Nowadays, not so much.
bryanlarsen 1y ago
Anybody with a good pension plan is effectively a millionaire too. Upon retirement you're likely better off with a pension plan that pays a guaranteed $40K/year than with a million dollars in the bank.
- josefritzishere 1y ago
  Pensions are almost unobtanium in the US.
  - bryanlarsen 1y ago
    15 percent of American workers in the private sector have a job with a defined benefit pension. (https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/15-percent-of-private-industry-workers-had-access-to-a-defined-benefit-retirement-plan.htm https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/15-percent-of-private-indu...). Most workers in the public sector have a defined benefit pension, which almost doubles the number. 25% of workers is a significant percentage.

spwa4 1y ago

The problem is what governments mean by "super rich" and what people expect it to mean. They expect it to mean 10 million in assets and up, at minimum. What governments mean: $30k in "assets" and up. I get it. If you don't do that the tax base is too small, and they just preemptively give up on taxing the actual super-rich. I'm quite allright with taxing billionnaires, no question. Even when in the millions, by all means, tax away. But please only start increasing tax when we're like 50% above a downpayment for a decent house. And this is not what's happening.