Wealth Taxes

[Turveyd]

There is no question a 70 year old is unfit to run the country on age alone. The average age is approaching 40, their views should align with the generational views of the forgotten generation (gen X) and yet here we are still spewing campaign slogans are trickle down garbage from the 70s like its new and exciting. Placing someone 2 generations separated from the average is a method of control. To keep the old and bad ideas alive because "those damn kids don't know anything". Sounds kind of like an oligarchy doesn't it.

The president should be able to identify with the average person, and a 70 year old career politician or billionaire is about as far from "average person" as you could possibly get. The ideal candidate is young. No older than 50. Mental decline in even the most spry elderly is a real thing, and as you can see by the current president it is clearly taking its toll. Bernie and Biden can barely remember who they are half the time and Trump is one adderall trip away from the loonie bin. If the elderly were so good at being constantly on guard against their nature perhaps they'd retire and stay out of politics!

Yep too old to work in a shop, but is kinda running the country and a lot of americans think this is a good thing.

Crazy world and political nonsense system

 

[piezoe]

The president should be able to identify with the average person, and a 70 year old career politician or billionaire is about as far from "average person" as you could possibly get.

Perhaps that was my point. Let's assume it was. Then is it good or bad for our species that we choose a leader that is more in touch with our nature. This is the question I would ask. And I would ask you to think about it deeply before responding.

If it is any solace, I have always thought as you. But now I am not so sure.

 

[GRULSTMRNN]

Now this blanket statement is total bogus. The abuse of power and buying of influence cause a huge amount of damage that exceeds any tax payments they make. Case in point are the Super rich in Hongkong who own property construction companies and have caused huge damage to HK society. HK has chosen to let the private market construct, manage, and sell living space in HK. Singapore is different. In fact Singapore runs its semi owned construction property developer which puts the entire control of the property life cycle into the control of the government and caused stable and lower prices for properties and ample supply most of the times for decades. In HK property tycoons have abused the market for the past 70 years. Land is bid for that the government auctions off, then property developers sit on the land base for decades knowing that tight supply of land and housing drives up land and property prices. Then they construct tiny housing parcels and sell them completely overvalued. Normal people can do nothing about it while the likes of Kwok brothers and others reek in billions. Those billions in Singapore are all invested in social welfare and the world's top education system. Billionaires in HK have done great damage to society and life in HK. If protesters here want to voice their anger they should hire assassins to liquidate Li Ka Shing and the other mafia cohorts and take all their assets and property and nationalize it. In the same way the Koch Brothers in the US and countless other moguls have done nothing but damage to the US and Americans. Bill Maher was right when he said "I am glad he is dead I hope he greatly suffered dying". Those are the worst enemies who spend every penny to deny climate science and the development of alternative energy sources. Of course they are not stupid and so they buy goodwill by spending 0.1%of their fortunes to "donate" their petty cash to universities or museums or other stuff. In reality they fuck Americans in the ass and afterwards offer a lollipop to make whole. Great benefactors to society.

The simple solution in the US is to consider every single penny that is generated as income. Property valuation increase? Increase in income. Rental income? Income. Wages? Income. Investment or trading returns? Income. Private equity investment returns? Income. Anything that increases someone's wealth is considered income. When a cash flow is realized it will be taxed at income tax rates. When properties or assets or interests are sold that generate a positive return they are taxed at income tax rates. Passing any wealth on which increased in value from the acquisition point in time is taxed at income tax rates. It can be this simple and would immediately remove any and every loophole there is. But it will take time until the common man realizes this and will force a change. Until then the wealthy in control will block this idea and defend the status quo with their lives. The Walton family should have paid income taxes on the increase in equity valuation in Walmart when the assets were handed down to the kids. Same as with the Purdue family and countless others who paid nothing.

The 400 wealthiest Americans of course pay exponentially more tax than any other income group, even if the tax rate is lower.

Even if the 400 wealthiest Americans paid effectively zero tax, they would contribute far more to society than any other income group.

Example: Let's say the founders of Google and any other search engine out there had never paid a dime in tax. They would still have made an extreme contribution to society far outweighing what they have earned (> 1,000 times more).

 

[ElCubano]

Points from a recent documentary I saw. The richer you are the less your money is made via labor and the more it’s made via capital. We do not know the true wealth out there as there is no way to really determine its size. 2/3 of wealth is private. The closest measure we have is the Forbes 400 and they admit to being way under. It’s easy to figure out what Bezos may have ballpark not so easy when that money can’t be seen and there is an entire industry that’s sole purpose is to hide wealth. Passed from generation to generation tied to private ventures, land, art etc. Pricing a stock share is easy, pricing private assets not so much. Like the Seagrams heir said,,,”To make $110 from $100 is tough, to make $110,000,000 from $100,000,000 is inevitable.” Perhaps capital should be taxed as much as labor. I don’t know lol.