Jealous of what? I've never seen anything to suggest that the extremely rich are any happier than average Americans.
I think that everyone knows that the uber rich are hoovering up the vast gains from the huge productivity increases we have seen over the last 40 years. It is not only unfair that the vast majority pay all the costs and get none of the benefits. It also has catastrophic effects on our democracy.
Ignores the fact that they’ve failed or are failing in every country that’s tried them.
Jealousy and envy are important factors in our politics but not in the ways many imagine. Those who are most concerned about their relative status are those in the middle and below. They are not as concerned about gaining status as they are about losing it (being losers). Bailouts for rich people aren't great but those don't create any potential loss in status. What is really threatening are benefits that might help those who are below. Those benefits create risk of a loss of status.
I just don't think that we can understand our politics without accounting for preferences for status.
No, they aren't. Between the capital gains rate and sleazy accountants (soon to replaced replaced with software) they only pay a pittance relative to what they take.
Not exactly the same and they're mostly done on the local level for a reason. Wealth taxes are very costly to enforce at the national level and that is one of the reasons nearly every country that has tried them has gotten rid of them.
Lots of people wants to tax "the rich" until they find out that they qualify part of "the rich" when taxes are implemented.
Top 10% earn almost 48% of gross income and pay a little over 70% of the income taxes.
Bottom 50% of earners pay almost no income taxes and I'm not looking to raise taxes on them and I'm not against a higher rate for upper tax brackets. However, a wealth tax, the subject of the thread, isn't going to work. I'm for eliminating income taxes completely and going to a national sales tax (VAT) on everything. That way we get revenue from everyone in the country - US citizens and residents, foreign visitors, illegal residents, etc. The lower income people would get a rebate (quarterly or yearly) to make it progressive.
That luxury tax was yet another ill-advised tax. However, it is possible to tax yachts if it's going to be licensed and berthed in a US port. It's no different than buying expensive items on an overseas trip, there are customs to pay upon reentry to the States. If you buy a BMW in Germany you will have to pay taxes on it when you bring it back to the States.
I've been investing in the stock market since I was poor. I recommend it. Start with mutual funds. If you can do a 401K, do it.
Go watch the special on Bill Gates (I think it is called “Inside Bill’s Brain), and tell me that you think all he is do is hoarding his wealth. He, along with Buffett, are donating virtually their entire estate, to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. What they are doing within that organization to improve lives everywhere is far greater than what the govt could even begin to think about with the same dollars.
I have a great deal of admiration for what Gates and Buffet have done. But it is also true that vast wealth has been used for absolutely terrible purposes as well. For example to block government action on critical infrastructure and public goods. This includes decades of blocking action on controlling tobacco, blocking action on climate change, funding all manner of anti-social organizations. Looking at only the few good cases without considering all the dreadful ones is cherry-picking. Consider a thought experiment. Would you rather have the government figure out what to do with a billion dollars or just give that billion to some random yahoo and see what they would do with it? If I wanted to see something good get done with that billion I wouldn't give it to the random yahoo.
LOL... So let's just give ALL the money to zillionaires and TRUST them to solve all our problems!
For the small bit that billionaires give to good causes one should consider the vast expenditures spent on temples to their own vanity.
