Politicians used to talk more about saving or fixing social security. It is closer to running out now, and politicians irresponsibly ignore it!
Someone’s willingness to pay isn’t just a function of how much they want the product or service, but also their ability to pay. So, when you have limited seats available for a sports game or concert, the people who go are not simply those who love the sport or the artist the most, but those who can better afford expensive tickets. This can result in rich people who don’t even care that much, having the best seats.
The very wealthiest of Americans are not making money from work. Their wealth grows by capital appreciation, and they pay very little tax on that income. The estate tax is supposed to capture this at death, but it is riddled with loopholes.
It’s extremely unfair and makes the national debt worse.
We’ve got to be able to have fair, reasonable ways to tax the super wealthy without demonizing them.
The wealthy pay a lot, however, due to how incredibly much they have, and inequality, they still don’t pay their fair share. The goal of taxation is to pay for government in the least harmful way possible, not to liquidate the rich. Fair taxation and reasonable welfare policy is good. Class warfare is evil. A society that taxes in order to end billionaires, or that uses rhetoric that endangers the wealthy, will be a violent and repressive society–either because the masses will turn authoritarian and violent, or because the wealthy will out of fear.
Fast food restaurants are reporting that people are buying cheaper things and running out of money at the end of the month. Meanwhile, the wealthy have never been wealthier.
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.
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.
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.
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.