(I suspect my circles here will make this somewhat of an echo chamber, I know my audience / people I follow, but seriously, I am open to legitimate discussion/debate from anyone in the "Yes" camp. Boosts welcome, especially from those on the other side of the issue.)
@tim LOL in a mood for tar-and-feathering, are we? 🤪 (I'm obviously in the "No" camp).
The arguments for "yes" there should be billionaires I hear:
1. "I might be a billionaire someday!"
2. "They earned it fair and square!"
3. "They are special, they are godlike! I bow in their presence, and kiss their feet!"
4. "BILLIONAIRES ARE GENIUSES!" (ps. they are not)
5. "I love billonaires. I want to have their baby. I want them to give me money. Can I kiss their a*** in any way to encourage them to throw me some money? Did I mention having their babies?"
6. "Billionaires are special, and worth more than all of the rest of humanity. The rest of you are DIRT! DIRT!"
7. "Billionaires contribute more to the world than other people! Therefore they should be billionaires or trillionaires!" (cult, really.)
8. "I have a job that relies on worshipping billionaires, therefore, I am for billionaires!"
9. "I, for one, welcome our new ant/er... Billionaire overlords"
I'm probably missing some stupid reason.
@ai6yr Most of those are excellent examples of stupid reasons already! 😂
I feel like #1 is really a big part of billionaires' scam against the world. So many of our problems in the US and the world today come from people blindly believing promises like this.
I hate to break it to them: working hard is not an automatic path to fame and wealth. Neither is being smart. Or good. Or any of it. It's all luck. And sometimes (often)! cheating.
@tim Luck for sure, cheating in many cases... luck of being born to the right people in the right places. I have known a lot of very wealthy people who were just lucky their parents owned a lot of land in the right place at the right time (Silicon Valley, parts of Los Angeles, etc.)
@tim I do think they should pay taxes on every penny. Fancy accountants plus tax laws that work best for the ultra rich cheat the country.
So. I'll say no.
@mcahalane Great point and nuance! This is absolutely a huge problem with the global taxation environment around wealth, as well as the US tax system in particular.
Folks object to millionaires/billionaires' taxes because "they'll go elsewhere" - as a global society we should fix that. There should be nowhere to hide. But alas, I am not sure we'll ever see that happening.
I also think this effect is grossly exaggerated, as is the impact of their "leaving". They're already hiding the wealth.
@tim @mcahalane IMO, just return to the 90% top marginal tax rate we once had. (And tax capital gains exactly the same as wages.) If you can still be a billionaire under that system, and your taxes are benefitting those around you and the society that made your wealth possible in the first place, knock yourself out.
@tim Right... if anywhere they go will also ask for fair share... why move?
But where do they actually live anyway? Everwhere/anywhere they choose.
