Since 2020, the 5 richest men have doubled fortunes, 5 Billion people got poorer

@justanothername Bernard Arnault and Elon Musk came from big money. I'm not vilifying the rich, they just need to pay their fare share. They do what they are allowed to do. It's part of becoming rich.

@justanothername Like you said, Bill Gates was raised by very wealthy parents. And Bezos took $300,000 from his parents to help launch Amazon. So I'm not sure if they're "like the rest of us" is accurate.
It's not about someone's accomplishments. It's about a rigged system. I've never heard anyone say that success shouldn't be rewarded. There's successful innovators in countries around the world who make a lot of money but not at the expense of society itself. What's been happening for the past 40 years, and escalating quickly as of late, is an entirely different situation.

@Ynotisay Once you get to a certain level of earning power things like tax and living expenses stop being an issue. Unfortunately a large percentage of the population will probably never get there.
As to how much to tax people to make life seem fairer for all us actually the $64,000 question that no government has ever developed an ideal answer for.

Irrespective of how much a govt sets the tax level at, there will always be tax exemptions and tax rebates for certain things that create ways to avoid paying “too much” tax. Ideally gives try to make it as fair as possible for everyone. The definition of “fair “ tends to be relative to your personal situation.

@justanothername Yeah. "Fair" is subjective. But history can inform policy. And create a bar for "fairness."

After WW2, and under FDR, the very wealthiest were paying at a roughly 90 percent individual tax rate. The result was that the middle class exploded. One earner families were the norm. Even by 1981 it was at around 70 percent. The nation benefited from that.

This is from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

[i]Real family income roughly doubled from the late 1940s to the early 1970s at the 95th percentile (the income level separating the highest-income 5 percent of families from the remaining 95 percent). [/i]

Today, the 1% control more wealth than the entire middle class. So while figuring out what "fair' is isn't black and white, what is black and white is what's unfair.

@Ynotisay Much of that wealth was inherited which is different from the wealth created since the .com boom of the late 90s which was from technology.

The other factor with tax is that large companies can set up an office in Ireland which has the lowest corporate tax rate in the world which is very appealing to the likes of the big 7 tech companies.

Ideally if you are in a high income high tax bracket you would get an accountant that can let you know ahead of time how much tax you will Ned to pay and you put money aside so that when your tax bill comes through it’s not a shock to you. You have the money on hand and you pay the provisional tax.

@Ynotisay Currently the world has a combination of a massive Covid 19 hangover and resulting high cost of living, expensive petrol, way in Ukraine, battles in Israel and resulting shipping issues in the Persian Gulf due to boats being attacked, a an affordable housing shortage and incomes that aren’t keeping up with inflation that’s at an all time high.

EVERYONE everywhere is in that boat.

@justanothername Not sure if that's true. The 40's and 50's showed huge economic growth. Millions of civilian jobs were created around the war and the post-war boom was real. Much of that was due to government spending in relation to home loans and education.
But as far offshoring you're right. Which is why Democrats have fought hard against it for quite a while. It's the same song and dance. One party is seeking more parity and the other is seeking more disparity. It's black and white and has been for a while.

@justanothername Yeah. Those are all issues. And the reality is that those who get richer solely by moving money aren't impacted by that. They've made more money because of it. Those things you're talking about are affecting 'regular" citizens disproportionately. That's the point.

@Ynotisay And that is the world we live in. The trick is to work smarter, not harder.
Use your spare cash to invest in shares.

Alternatively dont try to compete with your rich neighbors. Be happy with what you have.

@justanothername And I'm with you on comparison and the reality the money doesn't guaranteed happiness. I appreciate what I have and have no connection to "keeping up with the Jones's." At times I've had very little so I know I can live on very little and be happy. Stressed. But happy.

But while I didn't have much growing up I'm white, a male, healthy and college educated. With that alone I'm WAY ahead of the game. I have opportunities that others don't.

If you don't know that millions just don't have "spare cash," or access to options other than working harder, then I don't know what to tell you. Maybe some travel around the country will help there.

And as far the world we live in, as least as far as economics, it's fucked up. It's broken. And it doesn't have to be that way. People suffer because of it. "I'm gonna' get mine" works for some. Doesn't work for me. Because when my neighbor does better then I do better. You seem to want to defend, as an example, Elon Musk's $100K+ a MINUTE. I don't know why that would be the case for any American.

@Ynotisay I’m not defending Elon. I’m not a fan of him. But i can’t tell you that upping the corporate tax rate or the personal tax rate to something very high will probably create more problems than it solves. Yes, you need a tax rate but not one that encourages companies to find cheaper countries tax rates to take advantage of.

@justanothername I don't see the problems in having people pay their fair share. They've had a pretty damn good for a very long time.

(CNBC) [i] At least 55 of the largest corporations in America paid no federal corporate income taxes on their 2020 profits, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy[/i]

Also don't see a problem with the additional revenue that will go towards bettering the lives of citizens. We're on different sides of the fence on this one. I will never support greed while people suffer. It's an easy call for me.

@Ynotisay If you want to live in a communist society where everything you do is for the motherland or fatherland and noting us for you, then that’s fine but most people who live in the western world would object to that.

If I work hard and make good/clever business decisions then I would like to enjoy the benefits of my hard work by living a very comfortable life and be able to leave some behind for my kids when I retire.
A very high tax rate is not going to benefit me so why should I register my business in this country.
A more favorable tax rate is acceptable and that means that I my work can provide more employment opportunities for more people as it grows.

@justanothername I stopped after "communist" dude. That's all I needed to see. I'm done.

@Ynotisay I'm puzzled why anyone thinks a billionaire deserves to pay less income tax than they do. And that the rules don't apply to them because they're mega rich.

@DailyFlash Yep. It's completely nonsensical to me. Although there is a dynamic where people think that it could be them who's rich like that at some point. As usual, fantasy and belief drives people away from the truth. They fight for the right to be harmed. Makes no sense.