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If they did tax the wealthy heavily, they'd probably leave the country, and pull their money and resources with them.
I'm sure another nation would be more than willing to house billionaires/ultra millionaires and their assets, and your country would lose a lot of money/cash flow/jobs
It's a hard challenge to solve in a world wide setting.
While that is a load of horseshit, it doesn't matter.
Either they leave and cost the country less to prop up their businesses through tax exemptions so someone else can fill the void, or they don't leave and pay their taxes. Society wins either way.
That'd be awesome if it were always the case, but it doesn't appear to be - below are a couple articles about raising taxes in nations and what happened when they did:
Hopefully we can figure something out though, there is too much wealth being horded by only a few at this point. That always seems to be what happens in every modern system we've made on a large scale. Communism or Capitalism, the wealth/power eventually ends up in the hands of a only a few people
So, that is one specific way to tax the wealthy and isn't even one that I am thinking of.
The biggest loopholes to close are:
- Caps on things like medicare that are a percentage of income with a cap. Just remove the cap and make it a percentage of any amount of income.
- Raise the taxes on capital gains to align with income tax instead of being a tax break and apply percentage of income taxes like medicare to them. Income is income, and unless capital gains is taxed higher than regular income it should just be income because it is treated like income.
- Lower the caps on tax breaks for things like home interest. Currently the rich can buy multiple homes at interest rates lower than the rest of the population and then they get both income from selling it later and it makes them money just by being able to buy whatever. Tax that process more when the house is worth an excessive amount.
- When they get a loan against stocks and other assets it should be taxed as income if it is above a certain threshold, say the median household income. So if the median household income is 100k in some area, then them getting a cash loan should be taxed for every dollar over 100k as income. This closes the loop where they don't need 'income' from jobs because they get assets that appreciate instead and avoid income tax while never paying taxes on those assets until they sell them.
- Don't let them lower their taxes because they 'lost money' in one year. Regular people don't get to do that, don't let them either.
There is even more that goes into the process of them getting massively rich while avoiding taxes by business and asset appreciation that doesn't count as income, which appreciates faster when they are underpaying their staff. The whole problem is how fast having money lets you get more money without paying taxes.
And don't get me started on tax exemptions for businesses that are never a net benefit for the community they are in. That is a whole race to the bottom.
Good riddance
Having the wealthy here hasnt really helped us they lobby for laws that hurt the common person and benifit them and they dont pay their fair share in taxes.
They can't take all their resources with them.
As for jobs most of the resources that create those jobs would still be here why coulden't they just change ownership?
If they did tax the wealthy heavily, they’d probably leave the country, and pull their money and resources with them.
We did tax the wealthy heavily- in the period between FDR and Reagan. From the 40s to the 80s the top marginal income tax rate was between 70 and 94%. And do you know what the ultra-rich did? They prospered along with everybody else, they stayed put in the USA, and they seethed about other people prospering and their loss of power and influence.
You know what else they did? They spent money to corrupt politics, to pack the judiciary, to legalize bribery and money in politics, to build international legal frameworks to prevent countries from regulating or taxing their billionaires. They stood up propaganda organs to subvert democracy, they paid politicians to betray the voters and strip away their labor protections, and here we are today deep into the garters of another gilded age.
They didn't leave when the top tax rate was something like 90% back in FDRs day so why would they leave if it's 40, 50, even 60%? I seriously doubt we'd EVER go that high as the ones that would be affected control our government, but still.
But didn't they leave? I think most 70s British rock bands have a chapter where they leave to France or Switzerland directly because of the taxes.
Apples and livestock comparison there.
I'm sure a ton of British rock bands left America because of FDR... ?
Ah yes the ultra wealthy British rock bands in the 70s.
So you're telling me that we've been able to get Musk, Bezos, Thiel, and the rest of the god-tier narcissists to GTFO this whole time?!
It'd be even funnier to clawback their dinero after they go to Panama or wherever they fuck off to.
If they did tax the wealthy heavily, they'd probably leave the country, and pull their money and resources with them.
Good. Billionaires take many times more wealth from society than they put into it. That's how they became obscenely rich to begin with.
💀💀💀
Why are you against asking billionaires to contribute back? They get many services from our country, and Uncle Sam expects their duty as well.
they’d probably leave the country, and pull their money and resources with them.
No rich people live in New York City, Chicago, San Fransisco, or LA, because the taxes are so high.
Please don't Google "cities where the highest net worth people live".
I’m sure another nation would be more than willing to house billionaires/ultra millionaires and their assets
But would Elon Musk want to move to the slums of Mumbai or the desert wastes of Sudan just to save on taxes? Why don't all the billionaires live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming or Nashville, Tennessee or Dallas, Texas?
Dallas has a whole lot due to the energy and telecom sectors. The city itself is pretty blue, but sometimes out in the suburbs like Rockwall a full on Alex Jones emerges. It's pretty much the same for every city in Texas.
Dallas has a whole lot due to the energy and telecom sectors.
Absolutely. What's more, they have an enormous influence over who gets to run for office and how much positive press they receive. And yet the taxes in Dallas are still some of the highest in the state. Almost as though taxes pay for the public utilities that make Dallas a major energy/telecom hub, and the exceptionally wealthy consider this tax money an investment rather than a loss or a theft.
It’s pretty much the same for every city in Texas.
The dirty truth about Texas suburbs is that they'll have shockingly high taxes and fees for the purpose of building up local infrastructure. Houston Chronicle did an article a few months back about how the Texas tax system raised more per-capita than California, thanks in large part to the property tax base that has seen housing prices skyrocket over the last decade.
The big difference between these red and blue states isn't how much money is raised but where it is spent.
Ahh yes, we're all very familiar with the tale of the time the Billionaire came to town and gave everyone money, jobs, and a golden toilet.
Good luck taking your fucking sky scraper to Dubai
The sky scraper is technically owned by a hive collective of financial AI instruments based out of Kiribati anyway, nothing would change for the elite.
"oh no"
It's weird how no one remembers the paradise papers and all that. Most of their wealth is already off shore and none of it is taxed. There's no such thing as "trickle down." They are not good for the economy even if they did invest in it in any way other than proverbially setting their money on fire. Meanwhile, most of the property being bought and sold in the US now is owned by the wealthiest people from other countries, not US billionaires.
Maybe they can go live in China. Jack Ma says hi.
Lol, where they gonna go?
Literally any tax haven
Their money is already there so them moving wouldn't make much of a difference.
If a mega rich dude pulls out, someone else who is okay with making great rather then ungodly money is going to step in to take their place. Richie Rich can't take his factories and land with him, and its rather unlikely his workers would be willing or able to move elsewhere, especially to leave the country, and even moreso depending on the country, so enjoy the brain drain.
