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Originally Posted by MattyC
The total US income is ~$13 trillion. 2015 Forbes 400 hold a collective $2.3 trillion.
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It is hard for me to follow your comment, as I think that you are conflating "income" with "wealth," and they aren't congruent.
In any event, I don't think that your comments in respect of purchasing power have any real bearing on the substance of the matter. I'm not saying that I disagree (or that I agree) with them, just that I think that they are a bit of a sideshow to the underlying debate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MattyC
But how come we give those people a free pass in that way?
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Well, I don't know if we do (there was a bit of an uproar when Saverin gave up his US citizenship, ostensibly to avoid US taxation, and Zuckerberg's claim to send a portion of his wealth to "charity" has certainly gotten scrutiny, as it becomes more apparent that the move is really just a tax dodge).
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Originally Posted by MattyC
No ill will gets allocated to the selfish asshats that can just go live in their fifth home in some other province/country and pay less tax to someone else.
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Well, again, I think that
some ill will does get allocated to those people.
But, ultimately, what can be done about it? The US already taxes its citizens based on their worldwide income, and tax dodges, shelters, schemes still abound.
Furthermore, I tend to think that the underlying reason why the ill will isn't too great is because everyone wants to believe that someday, somehow, they can be that selfish person too.
They might not admit that openly, but if they didn't think that they---or someone in their family---could maybe someday be that person, then why do they participate in a capitalist system at all? They want to believe in freedom and the freedom to create their own future and their own wealth and their own options.
And taking that freedom away from someone through punitive taxation (whether real or threatened) is not how you win elections. Hence the whole "tax the other guy" mentality that is prevalent in most elections and said by most candidates (Republican and Democrat alike)---because everyone thinks the "other guy" is someone other than themselves.
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Originally Posted by MattyC
As for your last point, I agree, even if he IS elected he would be in tough to get his policies through. That doesn't make them wrong. All it does is show that it's really not the will of the majority controlling what is happening.
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In regard to some matters, I submit that the "will of the majority" is not how things should be decided.