Lone Candle
Champion of Truth
Jeff Bezos pays himself an 82k salary even though he is the head of a massive company, Amazon, but he is fabulously wealthy through his stock, which he can use to take out loans tax free. So, he lives a tremendously wealthy lifestyle while paying very little taxes. This is legal. The estate tax is supposed to make up for this, but it is riddled with loopholes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX5U5DNUfBc
The Roman Empire fell partially because super-rich land holders selfishly avoided taxes, weakening the empire from within.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ke7n-OV33Q
Studies don’t add up to supporting that inequality matters outside of the inequality itself. Instead of focusing on inequality, it’s better to focus on helping everyone live a better life than on inequality per se.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziVSakxDaPk
In the US, it takes twice as long for the average person to earn a dollar compared to the UK, France, and Germany. The US has higher GDP per capita, but it’s so unequal that more of its citizens are worse off compared to Western Europe. In 1990, the US’s time-to-get-one-dollar numbers were comparable to these countries. In the US, the well-off are doing better than ever, but everyone else lives precariously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNlxckSioxY
Economist Luigi Zingales was on Fox News for something other than the estate tax, but they asked him about it and he said he was for it. He was never invited on Fox News again.
Frank Luntz was hired by the Republican Party and groups funded by super wealthy people to fight the estate tax. He renamed it the death tax so people wouldn’t think of it as a tax that mostly affected the super wealthy.
The problem with the super wealthy and taxes isn’t tax rates, it’s that much of their income is not taxed at all. It isn’t counted as income. Before the fall of Communism, the American super wealthy actually paid taxes, but without the threat of Communism, there wasn’t the pressure to show that capitalism will work for everyone. Many changes, and a lack of reform to catch up with gaming the system, has resulted in the estate tax being a joke and the super wealthy paying very little tax compared to their lifetime income.
High income people pay taxes, but the super wealthy don’t officially have much income. Of course, they do have income, but it doesn’t count and is often never taxed.
https://www.capitalisnt.com/episodes/how-to-fix-the-american-tax-system-ft-ray-madoff
America’s rising debt, inequality, and inability to appropriately tax its wealthy, rhymes with what was happening leading up to the French revolution. The French put off their economic problems until the only solution was revolution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqFSX7HQjwk
The Laffer curve confuses economic incentives with social reality. Most people can’t just stop working or even work much less, because tax rates go up. Even those who can stop working, often keep working in the face of higher tax rates. Some countries with high tax rates have high growth. The marginal tax rate whereby most people will work less is very high, like 70%.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrO9VpQCXZU
Our Coming Plutocracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wetEKGZdUo
“The poorest 10% of households will lose an average of about $1,200 in resources per year, amounting to a 3.1% cut in their income, according to the analysis released Monday of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Households in the highest 10% of incomes will see about a $13,600 boost in resources on average, amounting to a 2.7% increase in their incomes.
Earners in the middle of the distribution will see their annual resources grow by about $800 to $1,200 on average, according to the analysis.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tax-law-squeezes-poor-185207334.html
A “Big, Beautiful” Tax Bill for America’s Ultrawealthy | Prof G Markets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W_ZdTfqozE