Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes
This idea has always fascinated me, that if you tax the rich, somehow they loose the will to work harder and earn more money. It's not that the ultimate amount that is limited, but you have to work harder to get it, but then all of a sudden you also expect the poor people to work hard and earn more money, so somehow poor people are supposed to work harder and earn more money, but rich people cannot find the will to work harder?
I'm in favor of some kind of balance, nothing too extreme, but again, this idea that if you tax at rates above 33-40%, the rich suddenly lose the will to work and will not work any harder to earn more money? Just seems so crazy to me...
James, I don't know if you've seen what's happened to various states' tax bases that have raised taxes on the wealthy. Here's an article on the subject:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...205-story.html
Applying that same logic to federal taxes, the wealthy can opt to emigrate to more tax friendly countries such as the Bahamas or the Cayman Islands to name just two countries (of many) that one could flee the tax man.
In today's age where many wealthy people don't need to be physically located anywhere to make money, what's to stop them from moving out of country? Jim Rogers, a wealthy investor/author, moved his family to Singapore about a decade ago.
Eduardo Savarin, one of the Google founders, also moved to Singapore in order to avoid the tax man.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/naaznee.../#28918a2d6a8e Saverin was roundly denounced by some Democrats for being 'disloyal' for leaving the US to avoid the US' onerous taxes.
It's not that the rich won't work as hard; it's that the rich will move somewhere that doesn't vilify and financially rape the wealthy.
Whenever I hear a politician promise free college and other free stuff, my immediate thought is that we already spend too much on government so what's the plan to pay for it?
Another irritant is organizations like the Patriotic Millionaires who ask to have their taxes raised. They'll just get their accountants to avoid paying taxes but the upper middle class ends up with larger tax bills. If they really want to pay more, they can write a check to the treasury. But the wealthy don't send extra money to the government.
$4.4 trillion that the Federal government spends annually needs to be reduced. We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.