I asked on Quora why the ultra rich are associated with being friendly to higher taxes. I got the usual assortment of answers including altruism, patriotism, guilt. The most interesting answer came from one poster who claimed to be in the top five percent (He didn't say if this was nationally or globally, but fair bet he's richer then all of us put together)
He gave most of the usual responses, and then claimed that all of them have a little unadmitted fear in the back of their head about what happens when unrest reaches critical mass. He said they could easily hire armies, but that would restrict their freedom.
Restrict their freedom. I never would have considered that. Why not hire that army, or form a network of islands for rich people? Why not have "Air Force One" for rich people, so they can live out their lives in the sky? Why not build a space station or moon base?
I guess even a guilded cage is still a cage.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
I would imagine that part of it is because at the end of the day, not everything can be automated. The lower and middle classes are the ones that usually keep the lights on and the water running. Sure, there are ways around it, but I imagine it's much easier to placate the masses in some way.
That's why you let in a limited underclass. Like Knights in the old days.
They'll never be royalty, but they get to live like them.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
They claim to be friendly to higher taxes, but I'd be willing to bet at least 90% of them try and pay the minimum amount of taxes they can.
__________________ posted by Badabing
I don't know why some of you are going on about being right and winning. Rob and Impediment were in on this gag because I PMed them. Silent and Rao PMed me and figured I changed the post. I highly doubt anybody thought Quan made the post, but simply played along just for the lulz.
Yeah, being better at using loopholes and outright burying it was one of the reasons given.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
Does anyone here oppose the Fair Tax on factual grounds and not just some ignorant opposition to something new or beneficial to the rich and/or sneaky?
Closer to being banned on the Labrador retriever Facebook.
"I was told biting a dog on the nose is a good way to discipline them. Any truth to that?"
Went about as well as.you'd expect.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
Nope I love it, although if someone doesn't read the plan they'll carry on with it's a regressive tax code.
Hilariously Scandinavian countries use a VAT in addition to tremendously high taxes on middle classes (in other words not just tax the rich.) To bad bernie doesn't adopt this platform to be more like scandanavian "socialism."
And some people think the Fair Tax plan is bad because it would punish the poor. But the monthly prebate (basically, a form of UBI, teehee) would make the poor tax neutral or even tax negative. Some think the prebate sounds bad (hating the poor) so here is a breakdown of the prebate:
I should point out that Texas doesn't have income taxes - it has a tax similar to Fair Tax. And it is among the best states, economically, these last 10 years.
Texas has a regressive tax but they try to offset this with property taxes (the poor cannot own lavish property).
I think the current Fair Tax Plan needs to be updated a bit but the fact that a family of 4 basically gets a UBI of $20,000 a year greatly appeals to me. It is also very business friendly.
I saw a chart that outlined how the Fair Tax compares to the existing tax system by predicting the tax burden across income brackets. Wiki captures it (but proponents of the Fair Tax dispute this because richer will have a bigger incentive to invest and purchase):
I think the Fair Tax needs to be updated a bit to patch some of the loopholes (like the wholesale loophole). We need tax-evasion experts to poke holes in this thing and then for the think tank to patch those holes.
Anyone who makes over 150k a year, I think, should be paying at least 17% of their income to taxes in some form. But not much more than 17%. Effective tax rates for really rich are far less than my taxes.
I think it may be more than restricted freedom. I'm no historian, but I believe history documents multiple examples of where the '99%' -- using their power to acquire more power, often to the detriment of the '1%' -- suffered when the 1% said enough is enough and revolution ensued. The new power structure works at first, but over time, given that power corrupts, the cycle eventually repeats.
It's as if there is some natural threshold -- between Haves and Have-nots -- that when crossed, triggers extreme change.
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Last edited by Mindship on Mar 8th, 2020 at 10:47 AM
Except in countries where the have nots have never had and they have gone from colonial rulers to tribal leaders with access to Education replacing the colonial rulers, and the country swaps from military rule to democracy and back again; with the same ruling class in charge no matter which system is in control. All bought and owned by wealthier countries and corporations they cow tow to and are complicit to the corruption, because they to are fleeing the have nots.
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Last edited by Putinbot1 on Mar 8th, 2020 at 10:54 AM
If I understand you correctly, you're saying that the 1% in these countries survive (rather than being replaced) by adapting to the unrest from the masses, by instituting a 'new and improved' control system (supposedly what the masses want), often with the aid of powerful, outside influences (those favoring the new power structure for their own ends).
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