I am a left-wing ex*trem*ist

[JohnBrown1917]

What happend to taxing people equaly? (spell??)

i mean, lets say, i earn 1000000000m a month, and tax 15% of that, and then another guy earns 100 of whatever currency and tax 15% of that, wouldent that work?

(Notice, numbers are just pulled out of thin air, some serious magic there)

I mean, some people who earn a boatload of cash, barely pay any tax compared to us who barely earn anything :S

Or just let the rich pay a higher %, and close the loopholes.

[Guchie]

Since this thread seems to derail into "raise taxes on the wealthy" I'll throw in my 2 cents.

1. Lower corporate tax
2. Increase personal income tax
3. Increase minimum wage
4. Increase capital gains tax

Personally I think creating an environment where its more beneficial to invest in your company rather than hand out huge salaries and bonuses would create more jobs, increasing minimum wage and personal tax due the same thing and im kind of torn but increasing the personal tax rate at the higher end counters the corporate tax cut (as well as the capital gains tax).

The wealthy do have too much money, the answer isnt "give it to the government so the government can provide hand outs" the answer should be jobs for Americans.

[PosPosPos]

I am born into a fairly wealthy family and only work about 20 hours a week on average.

I must be really hard working and successful, huh?

P.S. I work to pass the time, not for the money.

[enragedgorilla]

If it was me ..making the rules, I would go after the corporations/companies that use taxation trickery to get out of taxes they "should pay" ...before I would go after "individuals".
Stripping most of the shelters and dodges that are currently on the books, re working the deductions ....etc. ,only keep deductions that directly benefit the taxpayer/employee ,Then go from there.

Seems to me going after millionaires is aiming low when you have companies making billions paying less in taxes.

However, seeing as how the people making the rules....are the rich/politicians beholden to the donor with the biggest checkbook ...not overly confident or optimistic.

Just me though.

[SirPiken]

If it was me ..making the rules, I would go after the corporations/companies that use taxation trickery to get out of taxes they "should pay" ...before I would go after "individuals".
Stripping most of the shelters and dodges that are currently on the books, re working the deductions ....etc. ,only keep deductions that directly benefit the taxpayer/employee ,Then go from there.

Seems to me going after millionaires is aiming low when you have companies making billions paying less in taxes.

However, seeing as how the people making the rules....are the rich/politicians beholden to the donor with the biggest checkbook ...not overly confident or optimistic.

Just me though.

Corporations don't pay taxes, only people can pay taxes. companies simply pass them on to their employees(lower wages), clients(higher prices) and shareholders (lower dividends). Most of this tax actually lands on middle income people. Taxing a corporation just hurts the economy. It makes a business less profitable (and more likely to move its HQ). It makes wages go down and makes the cost of goods go up.

[xChurch]

It's a pretty simple problem that we have here. Every dollar in a given economy (assuming a consumer economy) is suppose to be spent and pushed through the system. When you have a very small amount of people hording massive amounts of money and not consuming with it, it means there is less and less money to go around. This is what has been happening, and will probably continue to happen for the forseeable future and it's the main reason so many economies in the world are messed up. The more money avalible to consume with, the more room the economy has to grow, but for some reason the standard thinking these days has been to hoard all your 0's if you got em.

[zebreck]

There are only two meaningful solutions to this problem that don't involve pitchforks and torches. Either corporations massively increase their pay rates and improve their working conditions to match, or the government massively increases taxes on the wealth-sources of the bajillionairs and their corporations and uses the money to substitute for a living wage. Wealth must be redistributed downward for society to continue to function over the medium-term. Refusing to do so tends to have catastrophic consequences for the wealthy and powerful: See French Revolution.

[Mayhem]

More and more salary but less and less work? Yeah, that's been know to work wonders for the economy.

Hmm by your logic the US should be on a solid #1 when comparing productivity per work hour.

[alexw]

More and more salary but less and less work? Yeah, that's been know to work wonders for the economy.

Yup that is exactly how the economy is supposed to work. Productivity improves and more is produced per hour of work. Over time that means workers should get more and more salary but need to work less and less time for that salary.



Glad you understand.

[Deleted]

You mean like in Scandinavia and the Netherlands?

want me to explain why they work here, but likely wont work anywhere else?

[alexw]

And why should parents not leave their money to their offspring? Where's the motivation to work hard if you can't even use your earnings to benefit your own family?

Where's the motivation to work hard if you are handed it all on a platter by wealthy parents? The stories of lazy trust-fund babies abound for a reason.

[PosPosPos]

Where's the motivation to work hard if you are handed it all on a platter by wealthy parents? The stories of lazy trust-fund babies abound for a reason.

Sorry, rich people are automatically hard working and "deserving" of their money.

[alexw]

Regular Joe on team Eazy here.

Let's say we tax the fuck out of the rich, ok, they're paying more in and us common dudes are paying less. Things start to even out and money is flowing nicely. In our capitalist society, what do you think is going to happen? Is Kraft still going to sell you that box of mac and cheese for $1.25? Or are they gonna push the price to $2 because the common person can now afford it? You think your gas and electric will stay the same price? Hell even a wow sub might shoot to $20 a month.

2 things in life kids, are a constant. Death and taxes. If it ain't the cigarette cancer that kills ya its the skin cancer. If it ain't the gov't taxing you its the products and services we buy.

That's not how it works. Unless the good is limited for some reason and there can be no increase in its production, the competition process forces the price down to its marginal cost of production + some small amount of profit. If profit margins rise too high that market will become attractive for new entrants who will enter it and drive margins down again. If we tax the fuck out of the rich it will simply act to generally raise the standard of living of the average person vs the rich.

[teddytous]

Tax the crap out of the 1% [disclosure: I’m one],

Why the fuck do you waste so much time on these forums then? Honest question.

Admission to the 1% starts at 400+k a year.... you can better believe I'd spend my time doing something more fun/interesting/whatever then wasting time on here if I had that sort of $. I'm here because there is literally nothing else for me to do between work cycles.

[Masark]

...fuck, sometimes it seems like capitalists want to go back to its roots from the Dutch golden age.

No, more like the American golden age, when killing workers to dared to unionize or strike was just ordinary business.

[PosPosPos]

Why the fuck do you waste so much time on these forums then? Honest question.

Admission to the 1% starts at 400+k a year.... you can better believe I'd spend my time doing something more fun/interesting/whatever then wasting time on here if I had that sort of $. I'm here because there is literally nothing else for me to do between work cycles.

Because generally, if you have plenty of money you have plenty of time?

I don't need to work from paycheck to paycheck just to survive, so obviously I have plenty of time to post here.

[alexw]

I think everyone should be taxed at the exact same rate regardless of income.

Everyone should have some skin in the game and everyone should pay their "fair share".

That and get rid of every single loophole.

Basic income, like minimum wage is bad for the economy as a whole because creating price floors economically is bad policy.

What on earth are you talking about? Do you understand the slightest thing about economics? What you suggest would destroy the economy. Its already suffering a substantial deficit of demand that is causing severe economic imbalances which need to be fixed via a new deal 2.0. The continual QE by various CB's is only papering over this problem not fixing it. We need substantially more redistribution and taxes on the wealthy not less.

[teddytous]

Because generally, if you have plenty of money you have plenty of time?

I don't need to work from paycheck to paycheck just to survive, so obviously I have plenty of time to post here.

Time isn't the issue; it's potential for that time. If you have a massive % of disposable income you could be spending this time doing something a lot more satisfying that arguing about nothing on the internet.

The original comment was directed at someone who posts here ALOT. The point was he has night unlimited options for his free time due to his income, and he chooses THIS.

[PosPosPos]

It's really funny that the middle/lower classes working minimum wages are campaigning against their own interests, and the rich are fighting for better treatment of the less endowed.

I guess if you all really want us to keep our money and grow even more just by sitting it in some long term deposit/investment, so be it.

[zorkuus]

It's really funny that the middle/lower classes working minimum wages are campaigning against their own interests

They're just temporarily embarrassed millionaires. Someday they'll have a slice of the pie they "deserve" (not).