Politics
Politics
Out of context: Reply #30416
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- yuekit2
Regarding tax rates, saw this article the other day (based on a report by Oxfam) that has some eye popping statistics
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2…
"The world's 26 richest people own the same wealth as the poorest half of humanity"
"Billionaires around the world saw their combined fortunes grow by $2.5bn a day, while the 3.8 billion people at the bottom of the scale saw their wealth decline by 11 percent in 2018"
"The world's richest man, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, saw his fortune increase to $112bn last year. Just one percent of his wealth was the equivalent to the entire health budget of Ethiopia, a country of 105 million people."
"Getting the world's richest one percent to pay just 0.5 percent extra tax on their wealth could raise more money than it would cost to educate the 262 million children out of school, and provide life-saving healthcare for 3.3 million people."
Now obviously actually implementing a wealth tax would be difficult esp globally...but I'm curious what the argument is for those of you who feel so strongly that the rich should not be taxed any more.
Is there a good moral argument against taxing the ultra wealthy slightly more if you could prevent 3 million deaths per year?
- it used to be a centrist, bi-partisan idea. though the mega rich got their claws into government.inteliboy
- and apparently its this kind of thinking that is 'cognitive dissonance' according to right wing nut jobs. yeah ok.inteliboy
- Lol World Economic Forum in the Swiss City of Davos, perhaps they should hold their next Forum in Somalia and be the first to give...?robotron3k
- The article says they released the report on the same day as the Davos forum to try to highlight these issues...your point is what exactly?yuekit
- Oxfam (the charity) is not the same thing as the people at Davos, in case that wasn't clear lolyuekit
- Better to invest in Sprinters.instrmntl
- yukit, I'm curious to hear ur opinion on NY dems, taxing the shit out everyone but giving tax breaks to Amazon. I'm genuinely interested to hear your thoughts.Boz
- Boz I'm against it. Anything else?yuekit
- I'm more interested to hear you conservatives on here defend not taxing Zuckerberg or Bezos 0.5% more in order to prevent a literal Holocaust's worth of deathsyuekit
- every couple years. Instead of bringing up some irrelevant topic. Does the cost-benefit ratio of taxing the rich ever reach the point where you'd be in favor ofyuekit
- it? Because seems to me we've already reached a pretty ridiculous point when 26 people have the same as 3.8 billion.yuekit
- I'm not really conservative, not really religious, I agree with some of their stuff but on others probably more libertarian if I'm honest. I was braindeadBoz
- raving and raging liberal through my 20s and 30s and was probably even worse than most on here. But then I actually opened my eyes.Boz
- On a question of taxes. I don't think anyone should be taxed more because they make more money really. I'm not jealous at wealthier and rich people.Boz
- I actually draw lessons and inspiration out of it to be better. I don't need their money, and I certainly don't want other people taking my moneyBoz
- I asked you about NY because it's clearly a hypocrisy from dems. And I already said, everyone should be taxed the same. Fixed tax and done.Boz
- and also, even if you taxed the rich 100% you couldn't cover any of the shit leftists are peddling because 50% of this country doesn't pay any taxes.Boz
- That argument sounds good in the abstract, but if millions of lives could be saved...or its holding back progress of society as a whole...you're still againstyuekit
- And second, I've seen that scenario play out when I lived in communism and then socialism and what it does and things don't get better. They get actually worseBoz
- I'll venture a guess that you haven't really experienced that in your life ever thus your vehemently defending it.Boz
- it, really?? I'm in favor of freedom, libertarianism etc as much as possible, but you have to be practical at some point.yuekit
- How does being in favor of slightly higher taxes on the rich within a free market system equate to communism in your mind?yuekit
- One thing I have noticed, people who grew up in communist country often overreact by going all the way to the other extreme.yuekit
- Look at the actual numbers and I think it's totally justifiable. Not increased income tax maybe but a tax on wealth is where the money is.yuekit
- My 'moral' argument: They're already being taxed for Millions... many of you find it immoral they have that much money but no moral issues taking it from them..PonyBoy
- ... that makes you hypocrites and far worse than them. The jealousy / whining I've been reading in these threads lately is strange. So many folks hate success..PonyBoy
- ... but thievery / demanding what someone else earned be turned over to you is just fine. Weirdos.PonyBoy
- And telling yourselves that you're going to snake juuust a 'little more' from them (cuz they won't feel it!) would change the world is naive at best.PonyBoy
- I don’t know. My parents grew up in communism and always say they would gladly go back. What is happening now is at least just as fuckedscruffics
- That's fucking capitalism for you...Gawd Bless Murica!utopian
- It has nothing at all to do with jealousy...as if I or anyone else gives a shit about that. But how to make the best use of resources that are available.yuekit
- Keep in mind this is completely unprecedented in terms of one guy having 100 times the budget of an entire country...just because he created a websiteyuekit
- and happened to be in the right place at the right time.yuekit
- If you think it's OK for people to die so that Bezos has one more helipad fair enough I guess. I would call that an extremist viewpoint.yuekit
- Did you just say people are dying because Bezos has helipads? I would like for you to attempt to back that up. :-/PonyBoy
- ... and there's no way in hell that's my point of view... where'd you come up w/that nonsense, ukitty?? <3PonyBoy
- haha cmon it's a bit of hyperbole to make a point. So you're OK with taxing the rich as long as it helps people? Or you're 100% opposed no matter what?yuekit
- Saying the public takes "enough" of their money doesn't make sense to me when 26 people have the same wealth as 3.8 billion.yuekit
- I'm fine w/taxing folks in a fair manner based on equal needs and overall usage of public '_insert_service_her... We all get taxed on just about...PonyBoy
- ... everything we purchase. We pay taxes on the things we already own... and we pay taxes simply because we earn. I believe in all those taxes...PonyBoy
- Believe me I'm against taxes as much as possible...but you have to keep in mind the aggregation effect of modern capitalism where due to pure luck one guy canyuekit
- ... I have no issue w/them other than the income tax being setup so only a certain group of folks are paying for '_insert_service_her... but rarely...PonyBoy
- end up with the wealth an entire country. Sure let's lower personal tax, corporate tax etc. but I think a wealth tax should be considered.yuekit
- ... use '_insert_service_ here_' as those who don't even come close to paying the same in income (if any) do utilize those services.PonyBoy
- If a dude buys a helicopter or a helipad is installed they pay out the sphincter in permits / taxes / fees... etc.PonyBoy
- I do not believe in judging a person because they're wealthy. Most folks who are wealthy are not so because they were in 'the right place at the right time'...PonyBoy
- ... they did it because they were fucking smart and resourceful... I get tired of that reality always being swiped from the conversation and instead...PonyBoy
- ...villainizing those whom are smarter / far more creative / inventive than the rest of us. Many of them have changed our lives forever...don't penalize that!PonyBoy
- I think the statistics actually show the exact opposite...most people who are wealthy got that way because they inherited wealth from their parents or had theyuekit
- right connections. Donald Trump being a prime example...he is a "billionaire" but inherited $400 million from his dad including outright tax fraud etcyuekit
- https://www.nytimes.…yuekit
- Yep... and a lot of 'rags to riches' guys I work for / with are millionaires that had investors toss millions their way to get started...PonyBoy
- Let's be honest your average CEO (as well as your average politician) is probably a psychopath. Some of them like Steve Jobs manage to do some good but theyuekit
- ... that's a huge part of the game. Thing is Trump is different (I have to give credit where it is due). He took his inheritance and put it work and was...PonyBoy
- vast majority are just assholes like Zuckerberg calling their own customers "dumb fucks." Why idolize or protect those people? What's the point?yuekit
- ... quite successful. You said yourself he's a billionaire now. His name is well-known around the world so you can't argue the guy didn't do some...PonyBoy
- ... (if not a lot) of things 'right'. I see no need to take most of that back just because he was successful in reinvesting his wealth.PonyBoy
- I contract for a number of Agencies and have a couple of nearly fulltime contracts... every person hiring me is a millionaire a few times over...PonyBoy
- ... they ALL pay me well... I wouldn't have my own business and damn near a full time gig w/out them. You attack them... you attack me.PonyBoy
- ... you're attacking yourself. :)
That is... unless you prefer socialism / communism where your opportunity to do what 'you want' is minimized.PonyBoy - It's actually not that notable to be a millionaire these days. I'm talking about people at the extreme utter end of the spectrum.yuekit
- "Let's be honest your average CEO (as well as your average politician) is probably a psychopath." ummm—is there a study I missed? :D (for real—if so—share!!)PonyBoy
- AO-C and friends wish to tax folks who make $10M and over @ 70%.PonyBoy
- Sure but only for income earned above $10 million...is that so unreasonable?yuekit
- I have a fear here... it's uncorroborated mind you so you can call me out for being a scared lil pussy... ;) —you'd be right— but I 'fear' this is merely step 1PonyBoy
- ... and if 'step 1' is to tax someone 70% of their income leaving them w/3M instead of 10... then why not bump it to 80%? They'd still have 2M.PonyBoy
- You're misunderstanding how marginal tax rates work. If you tax income above $10M at 70% and they earn $11M they would still have $10.3 million.yuekit
- And that's putting aside all the loopholes, shelters etc people with that much money would actually use...which is why a wealth tax would probably work better.yuekit
- ... which means if I only made 2M... technically I'm taxed 20-22% meaning I only made about 400K more than the guy who made 10M. That's... Bunk.PonyBoy
- fuck... she did say it was marginal... AND I'm learning myself as I'm reading outside of here that there were only 16K folks that made over 10M in 2016...PonyBoy
- ... so I'm going to take HALF a step back here and humbly admit my numbers are off re: 10M+ taxes. <3 Again... I fear this is the start...PonyBoy
- ... if we start @ 70% we've already taken our pants off. That number regardless if it's marginal then is ridiculous.PonyBoy
- And mind you... I'm all for cutting some shit conservatives / pubs can't live w/out... I'm disgusted by war / aggressive action overseas in any way...PonyBoy
- ... and I'd love to see what we paid from here stay here as much as possible (but I'm not against helping our neighbors if they need it).PonyBoy
- ... just sick of being told it's immoral to be successful or well-off (even if daddy gave you the money... so fucking what?)PonyBoy
- (and no... daddy didn't gimmie shit) <3PonyBoy
- reading this epic thread, it's interesting how fast you go to the extreme view point pony.inteliboy
- but thats socialisim! ur a Communist derp derp! is thrown around by the right as much as "your a racist" by the sjw left. such a joke.inteliboy