Process
Status Items Output None Questions None Claims None Highlights Done See section below
Highlights
id782758758
In the 1960s, the 400 richest Americans paid more than half of their income in taxes.Higher tax rates for the wealthy kept inequality in check and helped fund the creation of social safety nets like Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps.
id782758790
In 2018, America’s top billionaires paid just 23 percent of their income in taxes.
id782758897
we’ve found that the ultrawealthy consistently avoid paying their fair share in taxes. In the Netherlands, for instance, the average taxpayer in 2016 gave 45 percent of earnings to the government, while billionaires paid just 17 percent.
id782758961
Why do the world’s most fortunate people pay among the least in taxes, relative to the amount of money they make? The simple answer is that while most of us live off our salaries, tycoons like Jeff Bezos live off their wealth.
✏️ I feel this is a thing we sometimes forget to focus on.. or at least, the general public. All people are making money in different ways. The majority of us make money with our salaries, but the rich/elite make money through their wealth. Their money makes money. Our work makes our money. 🔗 View Highlight
id782759253
If Amazon gave its profits back to shareholders as dividends, which are subject to income tax, Mr. Bezos would face a hefty tax bill
✏️ They don’t get their cash back and have it taxed… they leave it in the companies they own/partially own, and their wealth grows accordingly. Sold stocks are taxable, but these assets can get them wealth just by its existence, and without spending it. 🔗 View Highlight
id782759332
they can still make eye-popping purchases by borrowing against their assets. Mr. Musk, for example, used his shares in Tesla as collateral to rustle up around $13 billion in tax-free loans to put toward his acquisition of Twitter.
id782759431
Mr. Arnault can spend the money almost as if it were deposited directly into his bank account, so long as he works through other incorporated entities
✏️ LVMH dude can use “wealth”.. the money his corps have, as if it’s his own bank.. he just has to play the game right. Rich have deeper wallets in the form of corporations that they can utilize. 🔗 View Highlight
id782759412
Historically, the rich had to pay hefty taxes on corporate profits, the main source of their income. And the wealth they passed on to their heirs was subject to the estate tax. But both taxes have been gutted in recent decades.
✏️ Taxes are the key.. but you have to tax the right things the right way. 🔗 View Highlight
id782759542
One obstacle to taxing the very rich is the risk they may move to low-tax countries.
✏️ The ever-existing fear of nations taxing the rich individuals/corps and then those people taking their business/money elsewhere. This is a constant boogeyman and blackmail. 🔗 View Highlight
id782759582
There is a way to make tax dodging less attractive: a global minimum tax. In 2021, more than 130 countries agreed to apply a minimum tax rate of 15 percent on the profits of large multinational companies. So no matter where a company parks its profits, it still has to pay at least a baseline amount of tax under the agreement.
✏️ To deal with that blackmail, you have to have everybody on board, so there’s nowhere to run to. A global minimum tax. 🔗 View Highlight
id782759687
One challenge to making a minimum tax work is ensuring broad participation. In the multinational minimum tax agreement, participating countries are allowed to overtax companies from nations that haven’t signed on. This incentivizes every country to join the agreement. The same mechanism should be used for billionaires. For example, if Switzerland refuses to tax the superrich who live there, other countries could tax them on its behalf.
id782759745
talking about asking a very small number of stratospherically wealthy individuals — about 3,000 people — to give a relatively tiny bit of their profits back to the governments that fund their employees’ educations and health care and allow their businesses to operate and thrive.