Pramila Jayapal More Ignorance From The Squad

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member



he comment came after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) — another progressive lawmaker — denounced Musk earlier this month for “freeloading off everyone else” and benefiting from “the rigged tax code.” Musk replied to Warren: “And if you opened your eyes for 2 seconds, you would realize I will pay more taxes than any American in history this year.”

Jayapal chimed in by saying that Musk should have paid more.

“Elon Musk made $36 BILLION in one day, but wants to brag about paying an $11 billion tax bill,” said Jayapal. “Oh yeah, he also added more than $270 BILLION in wealth just since the pandemic started. Time for the rich to pay their fair share.”





Never Enough For Those Unfavored By Authoritarians
 

Rommey

Well-Known Member
When politicians or pundits call for people to pay their fair share, I wish they would define in objective terms their definition of "fair share". They never seem to be able to quantify what "fair" is other than "more".

But let's apply this to members of Congress first. How about taxing the 535 members of Congress at the fair rate equal to the highest tax rate they subject anyone else. Every dollar of a CongressCritter's pay is subject to the highest rate. Every dollar of their wealth is taxed at the highest rate. Every dollar of capital gains is taxed at the highest rate. I think that's fair. Hey members of Congress, see it's easy to quantify what "fair" means.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
It's either deliberate mistruth or a complete lack of understanding to think he actually gained that much money.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
If they want the rich to pay their "fair share", I think it might help for them to define what fair is, other than "more than they are paying now" because they keep moving the goal posts. The rich already pay almost all of the taxes, and the danger of a REALLY LOPSIDED tax burden is what many STATES have already experienced - make it too onerous, and the rich just LEAVE. You end up LOSING money.

A tax system is FAIR when everyone has skin in the game.

THAT - is fair.

We remember the story that Warren Buffett mentioned where he paid a smaller portion of his income in a year than his secretary - but - that is because we have created a tax code that encourages some behaviors, rewards some, punishes others. And they weren't created for no reason - the desired behaviors protect companies, jobs, pensions, unions and so forth. They protect things like farms and income of the elderly.

They were created for a reason. You want them to pay more? Rescind your tax protections.

But - you can't, can you? Because the tax code is extremely unwieldy. It's worse than the worst spaghetti code you've ever seen. It's a Jenga of galactic proportions. It is VERY difficult to slash some things without really screwing up others.

We don't need to tax them more. What we NEED is to junk the old code and create a much SIMPLER one.
 
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glhs837

Power with Control
ah he did ...... stock sales

True. Wasn't thinking about that. But even so, both numbers are still misleading. That sale was over a week, and if you count lost value, he took a hot on his overall wealth in addition to the over 40% tax rate on those billions. Of course, that shows the idiocy of calling wealth income. When he ease selling, Tesla stock dropped pretty hard, but then rebounded even more.
 

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Do Away with Capital Gains and Income Tax ... go to a VAT Tax

that way EVERYONE is paying something

I can easily see why something as simple as that would not be fair.

Since a VAT would have to be large (if you're eliminating the very large source of revenue the income tax is, reaping money from the rich), it means both the rich and poor would have to pay somewhere around a 20% on all they spend. Perhaps more.

This means the poor - and the not so poor - who ALREADY pay very little income tax - would now see a LARGER portion of their income paying taxes on the things they need to buy. Because a VAT is effectively a 20+% tax on everything, someone who survives paying very little tax, would now pay a lot. And before you dismiss them all as just the poor, it also means the elderly who are on fixed incomes. They'll see their life savings disappear.

Hence, the FAIR Tax - the idea that, below a certain amount of income, some people would receive a "pre-bate" - income to offset the increased taxation. While it sounds great, it does mean that some people will work less and mostly try to get by JUST ON THE PREBATE. It's human nature.

Plus, I don't trust a situation where anyone depends on the government keeping their promise to keep paying them money. Yeah, that includes Medicare and Social Security.

I think the Fair Tax is a good start, but it might be improved by simply NOT taxing groceries, clothes and basic staples.

I do largely agree with the concept of progressive taxation - that the rich pay a larger proportion of their income. I just am not sure it would really bring in all that much money. If you're rich - you probably don't actually NEED to spend all that much money, if you like. The "good" thing about income tax is that the amount of revenue for a given year - even a bad year - is rather predictable.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
If you're rich - you probably don't actually NEED to spend all that much money,


Well that 400 million dollar compound Suckerberg is building in Hawaii would garner a few dollars ... Cameron's 3 Mansions ... etc
 

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
I had to look her up to see who she was.
She is from Washington State, No wonder she has weird ideas.

And i saw a picture of her. She put the Ug in ugly.
 

OccamsRazor

Well-Known Member
Plus, I don't trust a situation where anyone depends on the government keeping their promise to keep paying them money. Yeah, that includes Medicare and Social Security.

Within your meaning, it seems to have worked in Alaska for the last 40 years. Although it has created tent cities within the state, the government has been doling out checks for that long.
 

Clem72

Well-Known Member
Within your meaning, it seems to have worked in Alaska for the last 40 years. Although it has created tent cities within the state, the government has been doling out checks for that long.

Average check is around $1k a year, largest ever was $1600 I think. Not exactly a reason to move to Alaska. Pretty sure you would pay more than that in milk/toilet paper. And have you seen their meat prices? There's a reason damn near every person in AK hunts.
 
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