jjjalljs,

Would it be illegal to start a like Jury Nullification Ad Campaign for murdering billionaires? Just like, if you’re on trial for running over a billionaire, we pledge to find you not guilty.

dephyre,
@dephyre@lemmy.world avatar
Snapz,

“Won’t you please stop and think of the billionaires?”

“For just $5,479,452.05 a day, you can support a multibillionaire who needs you TODAY.”

🎶🎶 “We are the world… we are old white men… We are the ones that have yachts that need second yachts to land helicopters on… so you start giving us your change… If you don’t, we’ll fucking find a way to kill you.” 🎶🎶

recapitated,

They must be good then.

pastabatman, (edited )

Biden claimed in his State of the Union address that the 25 percent minimum tax on the ultra-rich will raise $500 billion over 10 years. “Imagine what that could do for America,” he said.

Maybe I’m not good at comprehending numbers at this scale but does this seem kind of low to anyone else? I mean, that’s a lot of money in absolute terms but the government spent $6.3 trillion in FY 2023 alone.

We should still do it obviously. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good and all that.

KevonLooney,

No, it sounds correct. Taxing billionaires’ income is fine, but the real money would come from actually taxing corporations more.

See, they only have income in certain circumstances, so the amount raised from an income tax would not be very high. You can raise corporate taxes by a little bit and get much more.

That way the income is taxed before it gets to anyone. It doesn’t matter if they have a billion dollars. Plus it encourages investment in the company (wages, new products, better quality, etc.) because business costs are tax write-offs.

Hapankaali,

$500 billion is a sizable chunk of that $6.3 trillion, and it’s still only a 25% tax rate, and then only the “ultra-rich.”

If one considers something more reasonable, like a 70% tax of income over $100,000, then you’re talking about more substantial amounts to really start catching up to top economies.

Kbobabob,

500 billion over 10 years is not a sizeable chunk of a single year total.

They spend more than that a year on “defense”.

AA5B,

I’m surprised it’s that high. The reason their effective rate goes down, is getting money by ways that are either special cases in the tax code or aren’t “income”. Until you fix those, wealthy people will still have the lowest tax rate.

…although apparently the tax rate for long term capital gains is already 20% for the wealthy. I didn’t know that

vin,

This is ragebait content from democrats. 25 percent minimum income tax on anyone worth at least $100 million is still grossly unfair. 50 billion in a year is a pittance for the owning class. Removing loopholes and including expenditure as a factor is needed to fix income tax.

glovecraft,

It’s a bit better than the 8% they currently pay. Some of them pay nothing. I think we should go back to the Eisenhower era 90% marginal rates, but baby steps, I guess?

PoopSpiderman,

This is the right approach.

Viking_Hippie,

State of the Union Tax Proposals

Oh, so it’s about the vague promises he made in a speech, not actual policy? Excuse me if I don’t rush to celebrate how marvelously progressive he’s being just yet 🥱

KimjongTOOILL,
abbadon420,

Did you expect an addict to thank you when you take away their drug cold turkey? Billionairism is a mental disorder, like addiction, and it should be handled with the same care. The kind of care that only billionairs can afford in the US, I must add.

callouscomic,

Billionaires: “I DO think we should be taxed more.”

puts money into lobbying against tax increases

RGB3x3, (edited )

It’s nuts for them to rail against this because when Biden said 25% minimum, I was like, “that’s it‽”

I get taxed at 25% already and I’m making $125k.

25% is nowhere near enough. Anyone making over 400k individually should be taxed closer to 50%.

A_Random_Idiot,

there should be a 100% tax for anyone who has a billion dollars or more.

That level of wealth is not compatible with existing in a society.

SupraMario,

Taxing the rich is great and all, but it still doesn’t solve the issue of gov spending being completely and utterly shit. We spend more on healthcare per individual than any other nation on the planet. We don’t even need to tax the rich right now and we could have single payer. The idea that taxing the rich is needed to pay for services and safety nets is silly. We’re the wealthiest nation on the planet, we can already afford all of the things our citizens need, we just have a gov who doesn’t know how to properly spend the money it already has.

A_Random_Idiot,

Oh, its you again.

Showing up yet again to reply to imaginary comments instead of the topic at hand.

SupraMario,

Way to contribute just like last time…

A_Random_Idiot,

Such a boomer reply.

SupraMario, (edited )

Lol yes because someone else has a different take than you on your dumbass comment must be a boomer ok kid

Asafum,

You mean like the price caps on medication so Medicare can save the government money? Or like the increase in IRS funding so they can focus on the previously “too difficult” task of navigating the web of interactions the wealthy use to avoid paying the taxes they already owe?

They’re trying that too, but it’s not just about taking money from the ultra rich just for our healthcare, it’s like others have stated: it’s about fairness to all. 25% of a billion doesn’t mean the same to them as ~25% of ~60k means to us. Yeah it’s a much larger dollar amount, but they aren’t nearly as affected as we are from what we currently pay and we still do it and are ok with it.

SupraMario,

I’m talking about using the money we already have for medical care, we don’t have to increase taxes on anyone, we’re already able to provide healthcare for everyone. Trying to tax the rich is a whole other deal.

eclipse,

Raising tax revenue and funding some variation of single payer health care or socialised medicine are not mutually exclusive.

SupraMario,

Cool, where did I say they were?

Zink,

I think the biggest problem isn’t the tax rate, but the fact that the billionaire class can circumvent the tax system entirely.

Own billions of dollars in stock, don’t ever sell any, don’t pay any taxes on that growth. Maybe some dividends get taxed or something.

Need pocket money though. Take out a loan for $100 million using a little bit of your stock as collateral. You don’t get taxed on taking out debt.

Furbag,

People don’t realize that billionaires don’t have their billions sitting in a bank account somewhere like you or I might have our own life savings tucked away in a savings account. That would be foolish of them, obviously, the FDIC won’t insure them past a certain point, so a bank failure could cause them to lose everything.

Every single billionaire is only a billionaire “on paper”. It’s the sum total of all their assets, both liquid and non-liquid (like stocks, but also properties, etc.). They leverage their assets as collateral for a loan, and then use that loan to buy the stuff they want or just use it to make more investments. They leverage debt in a way that we can’t even begin to fathom.

It’s mad, but I can see the conundrum. How do you tax assets that aren’t worth anything until sold? Can you compel them to sell their assets to settle a tax bill? How do you go after rich folk who use loans to circumvent generating income through the sale of their assets without also harming regular people who need to take out loans to buy things like cars and houses?

Rich people have gotten too good at playing the system and we seriously need to look at how we can fix things before it’s too late. Right now, the wealthy have unprecedented control over the government, but it’s still not an oligarchy yet. There’s still time, though. Someone out there has to have a solution.

RGB3x3,

Easy, tax net worth. Tax the value of all assets owned by an individual, trust, or corporation only in excess of some large number. Perhaps exceeding 5x the median net worth.

And only then might a corporation get tax incentives based on the number of people they employ. Because let’s be fair here, office buildings are really expensive and we don’t want to disincentivize company growth and job creation.

n3m37h,

Just appropriate the assets for the people. Imagine what would happen if all that income came in to your government instead of a single asshole.

Bob_Robertson_IX,

How do you tax assets that aren’t worth anything until sold?

I have to pay property taxes on my home and car each year. These are assets that I’m not selling, yet I’m still being taxed on their value. It’s amazing that they’ve figured out a way to do it for the working class but not for the ruling class.

na_th_an,

I agree with what you’re saying but I’m curious. You have to pay taxes on the value of your car? Do car registration fees scale with car value in your area?

almost1337,

I live in an area with car taxes, and they are separate from vehicle registration fees.

Bob_Robertson_IX,

Do car registration fees scale with car value in your area?

Kinda… it’s based on the age of the car and the original MSRP, so it isn’t exactly based on the car’s actual value, but an estimate of what the value might be.

www.in.gov/bmv/…/excise-tax-information/

FreakinSteve,

What really pisses me off is liberals yelling “TAX THE RICH!!” and when you propose a wealth tax they start screaming about how unsold stocks aren’t wealth and isnt money but wait someone who has lots of stock is the richest man in the world…

Here’s a radical idea: seize stocks and redistribute them among the citizenry. Eveyone is a stockholder! Now, who are the wealthiest?

Edit: and there it is right below me

BeautifulMind,
@BeautifulMind@lemmy.world avatar

I think the biggest problem isn’t the tax rate, but the fact that the billionaire class can circumvent the tax system entirely

That’s only possible because they’re allowed to buy influence in the system to make it allow for that. In reality, the other threats (they’ll take their wealth to other countries and leave us poor) are bluffing; most of their wealth isn’t portable. Also in reality, most of the policies they demand (and get) aren’t democratically popular, they’re only viable because they spend so much collective money on propaganda and think tanks to get people thinking the money will trickle down or that without them as ‘job creators’ all will be spoiled or lost.

It’s bullshit, and it only works because we let it work. Apparently we need to move in hundred-year cycles between letting the titans of industry squeeze everyone dry before we remember to assert public power to prevent that

cyberpunk007,

Where I’m at it’s like anything over 95k is close to 50%. 25? Must be nice.

Treczoks,

It is in most places outside the US. But it is still the same problem: regardless how high the official rate is, there are way to many loopholes to avoid paying them. It does not help if the tax rate is 80, 90, or even 99% if they get around paying it altogether.

Furedadmins,

400k is rich in some areas but certainly not everywhere, that’s way too sharp of a curve. Someone making 400k is already taxed at 35% federally plus whatever state and local so probably close to 50. The real issue is that after 500k the rates don’t change where it should be increasing logarithmically. But really after a certain point there are way too many things that the rich do to reduce their tax burden that just aren’t available to everyone else, that 100k or 400k person is in reality paying a much higher percentage than someone making a million a year much less billionaires.

NikkiDimes,

Why did you copy and paste this exact comment from someone else elsewhere in this thread…?

Furedadmins,

What? I didn’t

NikkiDimes,

Hmm, I don’t see it anymore. There was another post from another user that was word for word the same as yours, but slightly newer. My apologies, my client must have bugged out.

Furedadmins,

Lemmy is a little wonky, no biggie :)

Aussiemandeus,
@Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone avatar

Huh, in Australia you would be taxed 37 percent and anything over $180k is 45%

So I’m sure closer to 50% coulr come down

frezik,

The US has a similar graduated system (32% for incomes over $192k for single fillers, plus whatever your state income tax is), but billionaires have access to a lot of loopholes that prevent their wealth from being counted that way.

ilinamorato,

Agreed, but I guess you’ve got to start somewhere.

hamid,

I’d prefer the Mao Tse Tung method for dealing with billionaires

uis,

Leting them be billionaries?

nomous,

Killing everyone and setting your country back 50 years?

RIPandTERROR,
@RIPandTERROR@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Hmmm 1970’s really doesn’t give your argument legs to stand on compared to 2020s

nomous,

If you think The Great Leap Forward (early 60s, not 70s) was good for China then idk what to tell you.

JustZ,
@JustZ@lemmy.world avatar

Mouse tongue.

gravitas_deficiency,

Billionaires: Cry more. Yours is the machine we rage against.

Bristle1744,

Why would you take away these creations from them??? /s

www.twwyachts.com/yachts-for-sale/support/

Image

Support yachts are the finest way to improve your yachting experience. Not only you will be able to increase the number of guest & crew accommodations, but also the amount of water toys & tenders that are within your fleet. Upgrapding the mothership to obtain the same results usually comes at a much heftier cost than a support vessel. In addition, the support yacht will be able to resupply the mothership while at anchor and make sure that you never run out of food, wines and all the supplies you may ever need.

EatATaco,

lol. A fucking support yacht. Holy shit.

Bristle1744,

Obviously you only temporarily need a support yacht. Any day now you’ll have your mega yacht with helipad, smaller yacht garage, swimming pool, etc.

RamblingPanda,

If it hurts you, it’s the right thing. Cry some, leeches.

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