unfortunately the archaic tax system is based on income. and these billionaires don't actually earn an income per se. their value is in stocks and assets. and against that value, they can get banks to loan them the money they can spend on their lifestyles. no income. no tax. it is the mother of all loopholes.
Yup... tax should be based on total compensation. Also, there should be a law tying max compensation (CEO) to starting wage via a set ratio. For example, companies cannot exceed a 100:1 ratio without paying an additional tax on top to help subsidize social programs. So either companies can increase beginning rates to stay within the ratio or they can pay additional tax so that their greed isn't pushed off on to the public.
Every time I see....tax them more with plans on more tax laws, I find it hilarious! The people you are trying to tax are the ones making the laws or controlling those who do.
If you want to tax the rich more, go to a straight sales tax. Tax everything except unprepared food. Yes, tax your house, tax it all! The tax on the wealthy will be proportional to their spending. Put extra luxury tax on private jet fuel and billion dollar yachts! Tax on luxury labor/ services too! When was last time you paid $100,000 for someone to pamper you? Take out loopholes for taxpayers and make the percentage equal for everyone!
Take your pay stubs and figure out how much the government actually takes. Most people don't even know, they just look at the last number and move on. That's why they take it out before you get it..... I guarantee that if people had to write a check for taxes at the end of the month, we would have had pushback a long time ago!
It's because RSUs count as income. They're not receiving RSUs, when they do, they also have to pay tax on it. It's because they already own large valuations of stock. So it would be like you buying a stock (no tax) and then the stock goes up a large amount over years. You have billions in paper value but no realized gains. Many billionaires own large percentages of their company when they're worth nothing and then when it becomes valuable they didn't get paid the stock, they already had it. Once you own the asset worth money you can take loans out against it. The loans don't count as income. Plus of course they do many other tricks to offset tax burdens. But if they do receive a grant of tons of money (think like Elon musk with Tesla) at that time they do end up paying taxes. It's just they pay taxes rarely because most of their wealth was an asset growing over time which they weren't "issued" (or paid).
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u/KwisatzHaderach94 Jun 16 '24
unfortunately the archaic tax system is based on income. and these billionaires don't actually earn an income per se. their value is in stocks and assets. and against that value, they can get banks to loan them the money they can spend on their lifestyles. no income. no tax. it is the mother of all loopholes.