Quote:
Originally Posted by garysanfran
Going the way of California?
There is an assault on the wealthy in this Country.
California is trying to impose a wealth tax... As is New Hampshire. I believe Massachusetts and a few other states are attempting the same.
This Socialist attempt to redistribute wealth is having "unintended consequences".
Many billionaires are moving from California and they're NOT relocating to New Hampshire or Massachusetts.
I have never worked for someone less wealthy than me. Rich people drive the economy more than those less financially well off.
The rich also drive innovative progress. They invent things and thus create an industry around those inventions, employing many.
The small number of wealthy already pay the majority of Govt. tax revenue. Not enough for some. They must "pay their fair (fare) share" (Bernie Sander's favorite spiel).
Fiscal responsibility includes cutting spending.
Waste, fraud, misdirected goodwill for immigrants should all be actively pursued and eliminated.
An immigrant to the USA should demonstrate financial solvency like is required in Australia. An immigrant on public support for years, contribute nothing and drain lots.
Compassion does not have to be sacrificed for fiscal solvency. Just the opposite. Fiscal responsibility is compassionate support for the hard working taxpayer.
I started coming to New Hampshire when my age was in single digits. It was so different than my Massachusetts then. Not anymore.
|
I'm a big advocate of fiscal responsibility while also recognizing that the very rich have ways to grow and preserve wealth most people do not. The super-wealthy benefit from structural advantages that go far beyond simply having more money: most of their wealth comes from assets rather than wages, allowing them to pay lower capital-gains rates, defer taxes indefinitely, or avoid them altogether through legal strategies such as borrowing against stock, exploiting valuation rules, or using vehicles like Roth IRAs Peter Theil has billions in a Roth, perfectly legal, thanks to access to investments closed to most people) in ways never available to ordinary workers. Unlike middle-class earners, who pay taxes automatically with every paycheck, the ultra-wealthy can control when income is realized, shield gains with sophisticated legal planning, and pass wealth to heirs with minimal taxation.
In the decades following World War II, we took a very different approach. Top marginal tax rates were dramatically higher, wealth was taxed more directly, and public investment in infrastructure, education, and housing expanded alongside strong labor protections. That period coincided with the fastest and most broadly shared growth of the middle class in modern American history. A tax system asking more of those who benefited most from the economy helped create the conditions for widespread prosperity rather than stifling it.
There are lessons to learn from the past as well as opportunites to create a better future.