Which Country Punishes Productive People the Most?

[lovethetrade]

North Korea - it punishes the unproductive the most also.

 

[java]

Income tax was designed in the 19th century by the entrenched elite in Europe to prevent wealth accumulation by the middle class. It was only adopted in the US fairly late. The elite themselves don't even get their money from "income", they get it from pre-existing wealth whether capital gains or rent.

Taxes from mediaeval times were largely taxes on existing wealth raised for wars. There were also tariffs of course but no income tax.

Interestingly, Donald Trump has also proposed a wealth tax in the past: https://taxfoundation.org/time-donald-trump-proposed-57-trillion-wealth-tax/

Tried to read the link but the stupid facebook twitter banner on the left hand margin makes it impossible unless I just want to guess at the words or scroll. But I have thought about a wealth tax many times. Details get iffy, but it sure would create a lot of activity. If the cutoff is $10 million there would be a lot of $9,999,999 aires around all of a sudden. Where did they come from?

 

[Apollonius]

Tried to read the link but the stupid facebook twitter banner on the left hand margin makes it impossible unless I just want to guess at the words or scroll. But I have thought about a wealth tax many times. Details get iffy, but it sure would create a lot of activity. If the cutoff is $10 million there would be a lot of $9,999,999 aires around all of a sudden. Where did they come from?

Every form of tax has people saying it can be dodged. It is not like income tax has a 100% compliance rate. 10 million is just a figure, I think it doesn't have to be that high -- it can be a blanket 3% wealth tax across all sectors of society with exceptions for residential property. It would barely harm most middle class people honestly because most people barely have any assets beyond their homes and it is hardly worth the effort to dodge it for richer people.

 

[java]

Every form of tax has people saying it can be dodged. It is not like income tax has a 100% compliance rate. 10 million is just a figure, I think it doesn't have to be that high -- it can be a blanket 3% wealth tax across all sectors of society with exceptions for residential property. It would barely harm most middle class people honestly because most people barely have any assets beyond their homes and it is hardly worth the effort to dodge it for richer people.

Well for somebody like Trump, it means selling real estate or borrowing against it to pay the taxes on it. That's why I say it creates activity. Not sure if selling to pay taxes is productive activity. You are correct, very few have a positive net worth. My idea went something like you are assessed on Dec31 and have until the following dec 31 or a whole year to pay the tax. Liquid assets no problem, but for large land owners especially farmers it could be a nightmare. Even in a losing year income wise you would still have to pay based on the value of your land and that could mean selling the farm off 40 acres at a time and it's not always possible these days to sell small plots of farmland because modern farming usually requires about 600 acres to make it worthwhile to move machinery to the location. Stock portfolios would have to be sold off every year even in down years. Income tax is the only true fair tax because you only pay in a winning year.

 

[Mtrader]

No, your post was so incoherent and poorly written it was difficult for anyone to understand.

In our schools children learn to understand the essence of a text where several words or parts where left out. They do this at the age of 10-12 years old. You would clearly not pass the test. And I suppose you are older than 10-12.

 

[luisHK]

Every form of tax has people saying it can be dodged. It is not like income tax has a 100% compliance rate. 10 million is just a figure, I think it doesn't have to be that high -- it can be a blanket 3% wealth tax across all sectors of society with exceptions for residential property. It would barely harm most middle class people honestly because most people barely have any assets beyond their homes and it is hardly worth the effort to dodge it for richer people.

3% tax on one's net worth and not worth to dodge ? lol
As of the 74% Mtrader moans about in Belgium, sure it s atrocious but any half succesful entrepreneur in Europe has found ways to minimize that share of tax. And Belgium is btw one of if not thefavourite tax loweringdestination for dutch and french folks. It seems much harder on guys on salaries though.

 

[Sig]

In our schools children learn to understand the essence of a text where several words or parts where left out. They do this at the age of 10-12 years old. You would clearly not pass the test. And I suppose you are older than 10-12.

Actually my kids learned to write well when they were in the 10-12 age range, something you clearly did not. Are you seriously mounting a defense for piss poor writing "where several words or parts where left out."? You realize how silly that looks, don't you?

 

[Mtrader]

Actually my kids learned to write well when they were in the 10-12 age range, something you clearly did not. Are you seriously mounting a defense for piss poor writing "where several words or parts where left out."? You realize how silly that looks, don't you?

I clearly wrote:"I live know offically in Bulgaria and cutted all my ties with Belgium."
There is nowhere any statement that I live in the Netherlands. It is very clear where I live.

Maybe ask your children to read the postings and explain them to you. I wish them good luck, they will need it.

 

[java]

3% annual tax on your total net worth. How would that work? Perfect on paper, easy to understand. Why buy and hold? You're just going to have to sell some principal every year, maybe on an up day maybe on a down day. Start with 100k pay 3%, buy 97k worth of stock. 12 months it's worth 80k, sell enough (even though it's a loss) to cover the 3%.
I don't think outsiders appreciate just how risky cap gains really are. Interesting idea if wealth redistribution is your goal, but not practical if you realize that without profits there can be no revenue. 3% of a shrinking pie is not sustainable.
How about a one time wealth tax payable every time you die? Let me live my whole life tax free and then you can tax me one time at any rate you choose. Sorry kids, somebody has to pay the interest on the debt.

 

[luisHK]

How about a one time wealth tax payable every time you die? Let me live my whole life tax free and then you can tax me one time at any rate you choose. Sorry kids, somebody has to pay the interest on the debt.

Estate tax does just that already, on top of all the taxes one pays during their life.