Now it's time to tax it back to where much of it came from.
  • Jagothaciv@kbin.earth
    111·
    2 months ago

    Born in the 80’s how many of y’alls parents took economics? None? There’s your answer.

    • Flocklesscrow@lemm.eeEnglish
      82·
      2 months ago

      More infuriating is that higher education was dirt cheap for Baby Boomers. Meaning they CHOSE to stay uneducated, mostly because they “didn’t need it.”

      • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        10·
        2 months ago

        And it was true, they didn’t need it because manufacturing and non-college-educated jobs provided a living wage. Now neither is higher education affordable without decades of debt, but it’s a default qualification to get nearly any job that pays a living wage.

  • RickRussell_CA@lemmy.worldEnglish
    106·
    2 months ago

    I think we need to mentally compartmentalize Elon Musk, the rich dingbat, from the output of his companies.

    Tesla single-handedly brought the electric car to the American market in a sustainable way, where every US and Japanese car maker was in a pause state waiting for somebody else to take the first move (although, credit to Nissan for the Leaf, but I think that by itself the Leaf wasn’t going to open the floodgates).

    For all the goofiness around SpaceX, I think they’ve proven that they are the right model for developing orbital boost systems. Other major players are trying to be more like SpaceX.

    Should the US have effectively subsidized these efforts? Yeah, we should have. Arguably Tesla and SpaceX were the only serious players in these markets with the chutzpah to be successful, after a lot of false starts by others (incl. bigger companies in the same markets).

    It’s a shame that they enabled and enriched a giant dingbat, but in the end, Tesla and SpaceX have done things that nobody else could.

    So by all means, tax him. And point out how Tesla and SpaceX depended on gov’t subsidies and tax rebates. But let’s also keep focus on the fact that electric car success and a more competitive space program are good things that were, and are, worth taxpayer involvement.

    Also, to go back to the subject of the article. We don’t really need a wealth tax. We don’t need a corporate tax (which is just the political cowards tax).

    We need to stop giving capital gains a free ride. Tax income when it is realized, consistently. Investment income should the same tax – or just very slightly less – as wage income. 15% tax on investment returns is laughably low.

    • Joe@discuss.tchncs.de
      5·
      2 months ago

      And those unrealized gains, saved for a rainy day in an art safe in switzerland, or in some special financial scheme that effectively hides/reinvests any profits without triggering the tax obligation?

      There is something to an extremely low-percentage wealth tax that kicks in only at an insane amount of wealth. It could introduce the obligation to track and report individual wealth in a standard way, at the risk of a significant financial penalty, helping to bring much needed transparency, which in turn can help shape future laws and policy.

      • RickRussell_CA@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        2 months ago

        That wealth is just paper until somebody spends it to buy something… capital goods, or services, or political influence, or whatever. Let people sit on their paper fortunes, but tax it consistently whenever it’s used to buy stuff, or collateralize a loan, or whatever that allows people to realize value.

        I wouldn’t necessarily oppose a wealth tax, I just don’t think it solves the problem. The problem we need to solve is passive income being taxed far less than wage income, and then we need to tax both kinds of income at rates that make sense.

        n some special financial scheme that effectively hides/reinvests any profits without triggering the tax obligation

        If that happens, then the system is fundamentally broken. If cross-border complications allow for hiding of passive income, then they are effectively hiding the wealth itself.

        the obligation to track and report individual wealth in a standard way

        I just don’t think that’s possible. The US can’t force reporting requirements on “art” in Switzerland or Botswana. And wealth is difficult to measure anyway – if the wealth is invested in art in a safe in Switzerland, how do you even value it? How can you possibly know what the next person is willing to spend for that art?

        Instead, wait for the owner to sell it, and THEN tax the sale. It’s very hard to measure and capture “wealth”; it’s relatively easy to capture transactions.

        • friedmag@lemmy.ml
          4·
          2 months ago

          This is what bothers me. We say it’s impossible to do for the wealthy like this. Yet we regular folks get taxed like this every year. Property taxes. We have to pay for the illiquid shit we own, but it’s impossible for the wealthy?

        • Joe@discuss.tchncs.de
          1·
          2 months ago

          Estimate it. As I clearly said, it is mostly about increasing transparency, for a greater understanding and better policy tomorrow. Turn those that hide their wealth from the tax authorities into criminals, while making compliance easy and cheap/mostly free.

          Some countries now require you to pay a yearly future-tax-contribution on financial investments, which is then corrected at time of sale (eg. potential for a tax refund after selling a stock after it had a very bad year). Good or bad, I don’t know.

  • Carvex@lemmy.world
    108·
    2 months ago

    Rich in what? I see an irresponsible man-child whom others have given far too much responsibility. Stop sucking his dick every five seconds and he’d fade to obscurity.

    • linearchaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      Yeah, I’m sure not saying that Tesla and SpaceX have had some positive outcomes here and there will just totally make him disappear. /s

      Those two companies persist despite him not because of him.