Individuals Dodging Taxes

Just read what you wrote again…

The 1% are paying the vast majority of taxes. And that includes all taxes.

 

Public Service Announcement (again) re: the IRS.

If you're having an issue, i.e. per post # 10, and not getting anywhere, call you Congressman and ask for an "IRS Tax Advocate"
They will reach out to the IRS for you and have a reasonably intelligent person contact you and resolve the issue.
This has helped me 2X and friends of mine multiple times.

I always suggest going through your elected representative as the IRS knows they're on the hook to get things resolved.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service Is Your Voice at the IRS | Internal Revenue Service

 

So you figure 25% = vast majority? Top 1% own 30% of the wealth, pay 25% of the taxes.

 

I'm diversified. I buy. I leave it alone. It grows. And then when my cash reserves grow enough from dividend income, I buy again. It requires only infrequent effort.

 

Get over your envy of the wealth people build. The rich pay the vast majority of taxes. You are not subsidizing them. They are subsidizing the poor.

 

You said the top 1% pay the vast majority of taxes. That's a lie. Stop lying.

 

And reward the people who don’t save over those that do?

 

Billionaires have lots of income. Every investment they make has some form of income long term or they wouldn’t make it.

 

All taxes do this. Income tax rewards people who don't work over those who do. Besides, with a wealth tax we're not talking about taxing the average saver.

 

Discouraging savings is the last thing we should be doing, this country is light years behind where it should be. And work is a needed event to pay bills, saving is done by those who actually plan for a future. They are very different things.
But what would be your cutoff?

 

My cutoff would be well above having any effect on the average person saving for the future. It would only affect the extremely wealthy, who as is are paying a lower tax rate (based on level of wealth) than you or I are.

 

What is inherently wrong with capping wealth? Obscene wealth is unproductive in society. Could be put to better use. Doesn’t seem unethical to me.

There is actually $150 Trillion dollars of household wealth in the US and the 1% own $45 Trillion. Just sayin’.

And before you call me envious I am doing just fine thanks.

 

Well for one it’s impracticle. Let’s say you’re Jeff Bezos, and you start Amazon. What are you proposing happens to his ownership stake? If you force him to sell his shares it tanks the stock price for the average investor. And it’s basically the government telling a private citizen they can’t own their own company. Or alternatively, does anyone really want the government owning private businesses if they confiscated it?
More importantly though. It disincentivizes private investment. Imagine Musk not starting SpaceX or Tesla because he’d already hit his cap.

 

In the US we typically tax transactions, not wealth. If they’re going after the wealth of the rich it should be on the inheritance side of things regardless of where it is kept. Basically one transaction and the money is going to people that didn’t earn it to begin with. Currently the number of eatates paying tax is around 1/20th where it was in the early 1980s and even lower than the late 90s early 00s.

 

You may want to read the entire thread. I was responding to a wealth tax being suggested. It is a tax on total wealth not income.

 

Again I was simply responding to a wealth tax question. It’s idiotic even to propose that tax. With regards to an estate tax there is one in place and the rate is 40%. It’s actually set to go back to 5.49MM per person next year which is too low in my opinion. Just keep it where it is currently and index it to inflation.

 

As noted we are talking about taxes based on income.
Anyone who owns property already pays property taxes.

Are you saying there should be a Federal Property tax?

As far as the “value” of things like planes, yachts, art etc that’s very much open to debate. It’s only really worth what someone is willing to pay for it when it gets sold…