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[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

People who are rich can afford to shelter their money in foreign entities or investment vehicles, and/or just move.

France has experimented with this.

The actual effect of these sorts of taxes is to entrench the current oligarchs and prevent new ones from arising. It's why you see them supported by people like Warren Buffet and the Rothschilds (who hold "Trillions" in assets).

At best such a move can be considered unenforceable virtue signalling. At worst it's actively detrimental to the health and competitiveness of the nation.

https://www.thelocal.fr/20141229/france-75-percent-super-tax-rich-scrapped-damage

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

The actual effect of these sorts of taxes is to entrench the current oligarchs and prevent new ones from arising.

Disagree, we saw a booming middle class in the 1950s, mostly funded by these taxes on the hyper-wealthy.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

The booming middle class in the 1950's was funded by real money and the fact that we were the only first world country that didn't get fucked up in WW2.

We dropped real money in the 70's and the consequences to the middle class have been disastrous.

http://www.unz.com/article/one-third-of-american-workers-pay-is-being-stolen-heres-how/

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

The booming middle class in the 1950's was funded by real money and the fact that we were the only first world country that didn't get fucked up in WW2.

Partly, but also partly because of the huge tax rates on the highest tax brackets. Look at these tax brackets from the 1950s: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hitLCGRQuKU/TjyAfiJY8XI/AAAAAAAAB6g/d_2UJUgtjr4/s800/1950s%252520Tax%252520Rates.JPG

Yet this was simultaneously the era of henry ford and many other american inventors and businessmen that became billionaires, dispelling the myth that high taxes on the super-wealthy causes billionaires to leave the country. It's like we won't even try, and it's because billionaires write all US laws for the last 30 years.

I agree the inflation caused by our monetary system after the nixon shock also played a huge role.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Partly, but also partly because of the huge tax rates on the highest tax brackets. Look at these tax brackets from the 1950s:

I think Reagan dispelled this theory by doubling tax revenues (from 500B to a trillion) by hugely lowering the highest marginal rate while in office. The economy did not double in his 8 years in office.

I've worked with many millionaires. You end up paying tax on the first few million, after that you figure out different ways to be compensated; especially if cash is subject to excessive taxation.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Perhaps. But rearranging the economy to better benefit the hyper-wealthy at the expense of the middle and lower classes isn't a victory imo. The increased revenues had to come from somewhere.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Perhaps. But rearranging the economy to better benefit the hyper-wealthy at the expense of the middle and lower classes isn't a victory imo. The increased revenues had to come from somewhere.

I can agree with that, but I view usury and unsound money as the source of most of the problems. A lack of social justice is another - and I don't mean some intersectional bullshit. I mean corporations are let to run rampant over the little guys because they own the politicians. Those same corporations also control public opinion because they control the flow of information.

We're living in a different flavor dystopian future than we were promised by science fiction writers.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I agree completely. It all comes down to debt slavery (and wage slavery) which is driven by the central bank that loans to the government. In a debt-based monetary system such as ours, every dollar created has immediately more than a dollar of debt associated with it. So the debt, mathematically speaking, can never be repaid. This is the means by which the central banks of most every nation control the governments. And the Rothschilds started this very central banking system design in England and France in the 1820s, the system that was then copied to take over most governments in the world to this very day.

All the rest of the personal debt and household debt and business debt and banking debt stems from this central bank debt. Then it can be used to grow or destroy nations at their whims, putting the governments in a hostage situation. That's why everything is so messed up. It all comes back to usury and unsound money like you said.