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The End of Work, and therefore of "less government" memes
#40
(01-15-2017, 11:10 AM)David Horn Wrote:
(01-08-2017, 03:04 PM)Warren Dew Wrote: I'm in favor of any inheritance tax that will tax all of Buffett's estate at the maximum rate when he dies.  I just don't think that's going to happen, for the reasons I've already mentioned.  And all the tax increases pushed by the Democrats would leave him untouched, thus not actually taxing the rich.

First, selective taxation is unconstitutional (see the equal protection clause).  Second, Buffet will not be passing anything along to anyone; his children are fully onboard for this.  He will pass it back to society through the Gates Foundation or through a charity of his own.

If selective taxation is unconstitutional, how are there different tax brackets for different people?  You might want to rethink your opinion that billionaires' not being taxed is constitutionally protected.

Secondly, putting the money into the Gates Foundation or a similar supposed "charity" is in no way passing it back to society.  The Gates Foundation, for example, acts primarily as a foreign aid arm of Microsoft, for example doling out money to the interests of key Indian politicians to prevent India switching from Windows to Linux.  Buffett's kids are fine with it because they will still control the money in any foundation he establishes.

And even if it were real charity, why wouldn't it be subject to the same 50% limitation that the rest of us have on our charitable contributions requiring us to pay taxes on as much income as we donate?  Oh right, because billionaires can buy tax laws from Democrats that leave their wealth entirely untouched.

Quote:
Warren Dew Wrote:The people the Republicans are trying to cut taxes on are really the middle class, including the affluent portions of the middle class, up to those about 10,000 times poorer than Buffett.  To me, that's the wrong target.  We need to hit the guys at the top.

Based on what misreading of the Trump, or the Ryan, tax plan?  This isn't even open to argument.  It's been analyzed by the Tax Policy Center this way.  Feel free to read the entire report, but the Abstract hits the high (low?) notes.

The report confirms my statement:  increased standard deductions and the limitation on itemized deductions, for example, are clear benefits for the middle class that hurt the rich.

The only thing that supposedly helps the "rich" is based on an unsupported assumption on the part of the report writers that half of all high salary earners will switch to running small businesses because it will reduce the tax rate on money that they're then not allowed to spend.  I find this assumption highly questionable since doing so will increase the tax rate on money they actually are allowed to spend.

And it doesn't help the real rich - the multibillionaires like Buffett - at all.
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RE: The End of Work, and therefore of "less government" memes - by Warren Dew - 01-15-2017, 12:17 PM

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