Sounds like he wants a nation full of unsuccessful losers (basically a country full of Occupy protesters).
Way to suck the motivation out of anyone to achieve a high level of success.
1962: "Golly! That Sam Walton, what a hard working American inspiration"
"Yes son, if you work hard, you can be just like Sam one day if you put your mind to it"
2012: "Walmart Sucks! Those Waltons are blood sucking vultures. Their grand daddy worked to damn hard. **** those successful brats!"
"Yes son. Now go key that Bentley. Those rich p***ks can afford a new paint job"
How the world has changed.
Just saying...
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Sounds like he wants a nation full of unsuccessful losers (basically a country full of Occupy protesters).
Way to suck the motivation out of anyone to achieve a high level of success.
1962: "Golly! That Sam Walton, what a hard working American inspiration"
"Yes son, if you work hard, you can be just like Sam one day if you put your mind to it"
2012: "Walmart Sucks! Those Waltons are blood sucking vultures. Their grand daddy worked to damn hard. **** those successful brats!"
"Yes son. Now go key that Bentley. Those rich p***ks can afford a new paint job"
How the world has changed.
That's a funny analogy considering the number of small (hardworking) entrepreneurs that have been crushed by Wal-mart over the years. You don't get to climb to the top like that without pulling a few people down on your way.
Hard work isn't everything unfortunately.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Per my above post, Sam Walton was facing income taxes of ~90% in 1962. That didn't suck his motivation away from launching a wildly successful business.
Here's a graph from wikipedia showing the US tax rate for the top income bracket over the years:
I, for one, am glad to see France moving back towards the traditional definition of taxation.
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I wonder if they did this knowing the average person in that bracket would actually be paying much closer to a reasonable rate of tax (say 30-40%) once all the loopholes, tax shelters etc are used.
I doubt we have anyone familiar with French tax law who could verify this or not, do we?
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Per my above post, Sam Walton was facing income taxes of ~90% in 1962. That didn't suck his motivation away from launching a wildly successful business.
Here's a graph from wikipedia showing the US tax rate for the top income bracket over the years:
Beat me to it. People who long for the "good old days" would do well to educate themselves about what life was actually like. I'm surprised the hard working Americans in the 1950s didn't have a revolution to overthrow their socialist overlords.
Here's an interesting corollary of that chart which is debt to GDP ratio in the US in roughly the same time period:
The US tax rates post Carter administration have effectively been subsidized by debt just as they were in the 1920s.
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Beat me to it. People who long for the "good old days" would do well to educate themselves about what life was actually like. I'm surprised the hard working Americans in the 1950s didn't have a revolution to overthrow their socialist overlords.
Here's an interesting corollary of that chart which is debt to GDP ratio in the US in roughly the same time period:
The US tax rates post Carter administration have effectively been subsidized by debt just as they were in the 1920s.
I think what you mean to say was restrictive government is choking free enterprise
As a complete aside, it wou.d be some kind of awesome if the general culture of revenue mismanagement that seems to be inherent in the government was replaced by some common sense......
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I don't like the term loopholes as it implies that someone is taking advantage of an obscure rule to save money. These rules have been put in place to encourage some kind of behavior. I do however wish they would start eliminating those rules. I may take some flack for the position as a Conservative supporter, but I find it terrible when every year the government comes up with a few more exemptions and changes to buy votes or encourage change. The end result is that the tax code becomes so complicated that ordinary people no longer have a hope of understanding it so those who can afford to work the system are seen as criminals by those who can't/don't.
I think far more money could be raised by simplifying the tax code. I can't remember which Eastern European country it was, but they brought in a very simple flat tax and found that not only did revenue go way up but the number of people who filed for the first time was unprecedented.
Well, as has been pointed out in this thread, the US at various times in its history has had a top tax rate near, at, or in excess of this "shocking" change in France.
Honestly, I think the US needs badly to do this but their politics is so locked up and corrupted that it would be impossible.
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Especially when it has been proven to drive away the 'rich' people so they don't pay any taxes at all.
Tax revenues in Britain fell when they raised them a few years ago.
I wonder if falling tax revenues in Britain had anything to do with the worst global recession in history since the 1930?
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People who make less than a million want it sure, I bet the majority would also vote that everyone over 6'1" has to clean the public bathrooms.
It's amazing to me that people are on here defending a 75% tax rate.
I would note a few things. First, the majority didn't vote that everyone over 6'1" has to clean the public bathrooms. Second, and more importantly, modern liberal democracies limit the majority's ability to infringe on the fundamental rights of minorities. Its interesting to note that not one liberal democracy on earth recognizes freedom from taxation or freedom to earn millions of dollars as a fundamental right.
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"Life of Russian hockey veterans is very hard," said Soviet hockey star Sergei Makarov. "Most of them don't have enough to eat these days. These old players are Russian legends."
Especially when it has been proven to drive away the 'rich' people so they don't pay any taxes at all.
Tax revenues in Britain fell when they raised them a few years ago.
That's true, but not because of the high tax rates themselves. It has more to do with the fact that they must compete in a world where countries like the US are happy to subsidize low tax rates through massive public debt.
Brilliant, you are an invaluable source of information.
... and you are an invaluable source of strawman arguments.
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"Life of Russian hockey veterans is very hard," said Soviet hockey star Sergei Makarov. "Most of them don't have enough to eat these days. These old players are Russian legends."
