Facts about billionaires. They don't have bank accounts like we do...

@MaryJo1996 Yes. Not the super rich though.

@Waveney You're wrong about that, if you use the actual definition.

@MaryJo1996 governments are certainly part of the problem as enablers. Not a single billionaire earned their wealth though. Gathering one billion in 80 years takes making more than 34k a day from the moment you're born, excluding anything you spend. Nobody can do that through hard work with their own hands, let alone gathering hundreds of billions that way.

@NerdyPotato It's astonishing how people like MaryJo and BrandNewMan slavishly defend the people who would grind them to dust if it meant a 1% bump on their share prices.

@Waveney So, you don't know the definition of "super rich" then?

Also, you clearly have no idea about me. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

@NerdyPotato He referenced, in reply to me, the "super rich." That is not necessarily a billionaire.

@MaryJo1996 Maybe you can enlighten me as to the definition of "super rich" and how it then invalidates every point I've made? :)

@Waveney How do you think - just one example - that Richard Branson became so wealthy? He left school with no qualifications to talk of and (pre-internet) sold records via mail-order.

@Waveney

1. "Super rich" does not mean billionaire. Learn what a term means before using it.

2. I didn't defend anyone, "slavishly" or otherwise.

3. You're clearly jealous of those better off than you.

4. You attack people when you don't have a coherent response...it couldn't be more of a right-wing response if you tried.

I'll go on enjoying my life, thanks to the wealth my father acrewed after leaving school at 14 with nothing. (He's super rich, you know?)

Oh, and my father has paid more tax in his lifetime than someone like you could ever dream of doing.

@ArtieKat What does this have to do with my point?

@Waveney If you can't make the connection then I'm afraid I pity you. You sound like you have more chips on your shoulder than a sack full of portatoes. Have a nice life.

@ArtieKat No. I can't. I wasn't saying people cheated and swindled their way to becoming billionaires (although plenty did).

@MaryJo1996 These "loopholes", as you call them, are to enable businesses to create wealth and jobs which benefit the whole of society. They are not for extremely wealthy individuals to shield their personal fortunes and pay an actual tax rate percentage less than that of a shop assistant.

@SunshineGirl Indeed. And that's the fault of governents for not closing said loopholes.

@SunshineGirl That's not how it works though. Tax laws force corporations to bury their earnings in expenses and force them to distribute retained earnings in dividends so those dividends can be taxed when received by stockholders.

Do the math:

$100 earned by a corporation
-$36 corporate income tax
$64 remaining to either be retained or distributed to stockholders
-$20 personal income taxes paid by stockholders
-----
$44 what's left from $100 corporate profits after JUST income taxes. And what can be done with that $44? It can be used to pay sales taxes, real estate taxes, excise taxes and a hundred other taxes.

Understandable that some corporations rarely show a profit but instead cancel would be profits by more expenses and growth.

The greatest loophole is for corporations that run negative shareholder equity, and pay those same stockholders consulting and management fees. The corporation never earns a profit and thus pays no corporate income tax. Instead they expense would-be profits to the owners as consultant and management fees. Congress could easily close that loophole but they don't.

@SunshineGirl

In the US, a lot of that un-taxed income is in the form of tax-free municipal bonds. It's what finances much of the US infrastructure. Prefer to cross the Mississippi on a bridge rather than having to swim across? If so thank the people who financed that bridge and won't get all their money back for another 30 years.

@Heartlander there is nothing untaxed in the US.

@Waveney The father of MaryJo is a rich man. It is why she doesn't like the wealthy being taxed.