Democrats want to have a billionaire (non?)income tax

[Stranger_On_A_Train]

@Saint_Cad

Is it a good idea to tax unrealized gains? That is unprecedented. Plus taxes tend to fall down the slippery slope. So what is the lower limit going to be on taxation? 5 years from now? 10 years from now?

From another thread:

@Stranger_On_A_Train

The problem with just raising the income tax on upper brackets is that for the very rich—those whose income is primarily in the form of dividends, divestments and compound speculation—can quite easily and legally shield themselves from that by effectively having no ‘income’ in the form of paychecks or personal revenue. Their personal ‘operating funds’ are all loans on which they owe interest, which can reduce net income to less than zero (although the interest is paid by taking out other loans), all of which are based on assets owned by trusts that exist primarily to provide them with access to capital without directly owning it. Very wealthy people are essentially ‘cash poor’ and may even be technically “asset poor” even though they control hundreds of millions or billions of dollars of what is de facto personal wealth, and can even use this status to qualify for entitlements in the form of government subsidies, guarantees, loans, incentives, tax rebates, et cetera that dwarf the ‘welfare’ reluctantly doled out to those below the poverty line, all benefits inaccessible to ‘working class’ or even upper middle class people whose primary assets are a few pieces of personally owned real estate, small business assets, and a healthy retirement fund.

Pretty much everything the ultrawealthy “own” are “unrealized gains”, often in the form of assets and investments held in trusts or other instruments to make them appear legally cash and asset poor which they have unique access to by virtue of their wealth. If these people can afford multiple superyachts and private space programs, they can afford a few percent of their total wealth to pay for all of the infrastructure, public services, and security that fundamentally allows their businesses to enjoy economic success.

Stranger