Donald Trump has made his direction for federal taxes clear. Lower. But so has President Biden, who wants to wallop Americans with a $5 trillion tax increase.

Taxing unrealized gains would be unconstitutional.

  • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
    23·
    7 months ago

    “coming your way”. They are coming to corporations. The conservatives are trying to spin that these tax increases to corporations will just be passed on to consumers, like that’s our problem.

    Households bear the burden of the corporate income tax in the form of higher prices and slower wage growth. Companies do not simply absorb the tax, it is passed on to all of us.

    Yeah like not taxing the rich is definitely lowering prices. Suddenly conservatives don’t like the free market so much. They want you to forget that we’re fine with them increasing the prices, they’ve increased them so much someone else will start becoming cheaper, and that’s what they don’t want.

    • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
      3·
      7 months ago

      “coming your way”. They are coming to corporations. The conservatives are trying to spin that these tax increases to corporations will just be passed on to consumers, like that’s our problem.

      Households bear the burden of the corporate income tax in the form of higher prices and slower wage growth. Companies do not simply absorb the tax, it is passed on to all of us.

      Yeah like not taxing the rich is definitely lowering prices. Suddenly conservatives don’t like the free market so much. They want you to forget that we’re fine with them increasing the prices, they’ve increased them so much someone else will start becoming cheaper, and that’s what they don’t want.

      Theyre also hoping you don’t click on Trumps tax plan. Trump is whining his super plan is going to expire, but that plan was for the rich

      Enacted by former President Donald Trump in 2017, the law drastically overhauled the nation’s tax code, including reducing the top individual income tax bracket to 37% from 39.6% and nearly doubling the size of the standard deduction.

  • GrymEdm@lemmy.world
    14·
    7 months ago

    Tax the obscenely rich, and spend it on better goals. There’s a huge problem with wealth inequality at the cost of majority well-being and it’s going to take taxes to fix it.

    • Neuromancer@lemm.eeOPM
      128·
      7 months ago

      We already tax the rich. They already pay more than their fair share. If you have proof otherwise, I’d like to see it. The last tax cut actually increased revenue.

      • GrymEdm@lemmy.world
        17·
        7 months ago

        Here’s an Oxfam report on wealth inequality. Some excerpts:

        • “Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, paid a “true tax rate” of about 3 percent between 2014 and 2018. Aber Christine, a flour vendor in Uganda, makes $80 a month and pays a tax rate of 40 percent.”
        • “Worldwide, only four cents in every tax dollar now comes from taxes on wealth. Half of the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax for direct descendants. They will pass on a $5 trillion tax-free treasure chest to their heirs, more than the GDP of Africa, which will drive a future generation of aristocratic elites. Rich people’s income is mostly unearned, derived from returns on their assets, yet it is taxed on average at 18 percent, just over half as much as the average top tax rate on wages and salaries.”
        • “During the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis years since 2020, $26 trillion (63 percent) of all new wealth was captured by the richest 1 percent, while $16 trillion (37 percent) went to the rest of the world put together. A billionaire gained roughly $1.7 million for every $1 of new global wealth earned by a person in the bottom 90 percent.”
        • “According to new analysis by the Fight Inequality Alliance, Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam and the Patriotic Millionaires, an annual wealth tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multi-millionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty, fully fund the shortfalls on existing humanitarian appeals, deliver a 10-year plan to end hunger, support poorer countries being ravaged by climate impacts, and deliver universal healthcare and social protection for everyone living in low- and lower middle-income countries.”
        • Neuromancer@lemm.eeOPM
          117·
          7 months ago

          Let’s focus on one as that’s easier.

          Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, paid a “true tax rate” of about 3 percent between 2014 and 2018. Aber Christine, a flour vendor in Uganda, makes $80 a month and pays a tax rate of 40 percent.”

          This is false. It’s easy to prove it false. It’s well documented.

          Between 2014 and 2018, Musk paid $455 million in taxes on $1.52 billion of income,

          https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/20/elon-musk-says-he-will-pay-over-11-billion-in-taxes-this-year.html

          So how did they come up with 3?

          Technically most of that wasn’t “income”. It’s capital gains. His salary is normally a dollar.

          • GrymEdm@lemmy.world
            13·
            7 months ago

            Here’s another story about the 11-billion tax claim. What your story leaves out is: “The emphasis on Musk’s income comes amid speculation of his past tax filings. In June, a ProPublica investigation found that while Musk’s wealth had grown by nearly $14 billion from 2014 to 2018, he paid $68,000 in federal income tax in 2015, $65,000 in 2017 and none in 2018. Between 2014 and 2018, the investigation found, he had a true tax rate of 3.27%.”

            Here’s the ProPublica investigation mentioned, which is based on IRS documents. “We compared how much in taxes the 25 richest Americans paid each year to how much Forbes estimated their wealth grew in that same time period…According to Forbes, those 25 people saw their worth rise a collective $401 billion from 2014 to 2018. They paid a total of $13.6 billion in federal income taxes in those five years, the IRS data shows. That’s a staggering sum, but it amounts to a true tax rate of only 3.4%.”

            • Neuromancer@lemm.eeOPM
              117·
              7 months ago

              Ignore the 11 billion part. That’s for a different time period. Your quote was from 2014-2018.

              You don’t pay taxes on wealth. So your citation doesn’t understand tax law. Wealth can’t be taxed by the federal government because it’s unconstitutional. Basically they are idiots.

              We pay taxes on income and the rate changes on the type of income. Wealth isn’t income.

              • GrymEdm@lemmy.world
                11·
                7 months ago

                Ignore the 11 billion part.

                You linked the 11-billion story though?

                The attitude of hiding behind loopholes and technicalities is how the US has ended up with in the state shown by this chart and tables - with 2/3rds of wealth owned by the top 10%, and only 3% of wealth held by the bottom 50%. I’ll continue to listen to your arguments, but as fair warning you are unlikely to convince me that the bottom 170ish million US citizens should only have access to 3% of the wealth (2023 data btw).

                • Neuromancer@lemm.eeOPM
                  114·
                  7 months ago

                  You linked the 11-billion story though?

                  As it had the 2014-2018 numbers.

                  The attitude of hiding behind loopholes and technicalities is how

                  It’s neither. It’s how our tax code is written. Most of their wealth I would assume is stock. It isn’t cash.

                  Almost all of elons wealth is stock.

                  I’d be fine saying stock sales are ordinary income including SS and Medicare. That would end some of this.

                  I’d be fine counting personal loans as income and rebate if needed when paid off.

                  Since capital gains are taxed lower. Many people have converted their pay to stock.

        • Neuromancer@lemm.eeOPM
          18·
          7 months ago

          I am fairly wealthy. I earn in the top in the top 5%. I’m in the top 1% for wealth While I’m not rich in your eyes, i am in the eyes of most people.

                • Neuromancer@lemm.eeOPM
                  17·
                  7 months ago

                  It matters because you use the term. As such it’s only fair to define the word. You claim I’m not in a club but won’t define the criteria. It’s just trolling to troll. I’m not a billionaire and wouldn’t want to be. I have enough wealth to retire now and spend over a million a year and never run out. Well unless Biden gets a second term then we are all screwed.

                  I defend what’s fair.

  • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
    91·
    7 months ago

    Trump didn’t lower taxes for people during his term. Sure, he issued a temporary 2% tax rate reduction, but he’s a shifty little lair, and he eliminated several tax credits that benefitted ordinary working people, and people paying student loans, and students, and parents. My tax bill went up $2000 under his “tax reduction”. He’s a fucking scammer, and a lair, and it’s pathetic that 30% of Americans can’t see that.

    • Neuromancer@lemm.eeOPM
      114·
      7 months ago

      Don’t you believe everyone should pay their fair share?

      Or do you think everyone should pay your way?

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
        11·
        7 months ago

        Your question attempts to shift the conversation to some ideological argument rather than addressing the reality of the statement. Taxes for ordinary people went up under trump.

  • uzi@lemmy.ca
    212·
    7 months ago

    A second Biden term would be good to force the country into reality of the consequences of their choices once suburban women become too broke to travel, have to share one vehicle, have to cut back on clothes shopping, and no more lattes/frapucinos, and cut back a lot on restaurants.

      • uzi@lemmy.ca
        15·
        7 months ago

        The more the wealthy are taxed, the more that working people are garaunteed to forever stay poor. What would make it fair is eliminate the payroll tax, eliminate corporate tax because corporations only exist on paper, they do not use any resources, the people do. Also, eliminate the income tax, and cut government funding, cut government programs, cut government spending. Then replace it with either a single universale flat tax so everybody can do their taxes on a single page, or a consumption tax, but never both taxes.