Poll of the Day > Billionaires

(+) Yeah! (+)

Maybe it they paid taxes period, that would help but also keep in from a percentage standpoint, working people pay more of their pay percentage-wise than someone who gets income from investments and I think the tax paid on income from investments is less than 15% and they want it even lower.

The reason billionaires "give away" money is because they know they haven't paid their fair share in taxes so they compensate via philanthropy.

Also keep in mind when tax cuts are issued they usually go to people who make in excess of $250,000 a year and up so that excludes most working class people. Example the 2017 tax cut mostly went to the wealthiest. By 2027 it's estimated by leading economists, that the richest 1 percent will have received 83 percent of the Trump tax cut and the richest 0.1 percent, 60 percent of it. But more than half (53%) of all Americans will pay more in taxes.

Stop voting for politicians who give tax cuts to people who least need it.

Any taxes at all would be great.

Billionaires shouldn't even exist. There are no meaningful quality of life improvements that come from having more than a billion dollars that don't involve exercising far more power over others than any one person should have. Cap net worth at a billion and let them play Cookie Clicker if they're that desperate to watch numbers get bigger meaninglessly.

I would say anyone (people, business, corporations, etc) who make less than a million dollars a year should pay no taxes whatsoever. And make the tax code simple: No exceptions, no deductions, nothing. One million, total, in a year. Anything over that gets taxed.

Edit: For example: Amazon had over $500 billion in gross revenue, that means at a 50% tax rate, they should be paying around $250 billion in taxes.

I think you should at max be allowed 1 billion dollars. After that all of it is 100% tax. But you get a trophy that says you won capitalism.

The trouble is you have to get every country to agree to this.

Liquid billionaires don't exist, the companies that they own are entities of their own. First we should stop giving tax exemptions to companies large enough to not need subsidies, which will inevitably reduce the amount of paper billionaires by stocks crashing (which are also the basis of most people's pensions). Once the fallout of that settles, then you'll be in a position to decide if they need more taxation.

It's unfair to lump all billionairs together, some of them DO pay their fair share.

The problem is the billionaires have the most tax dodgers in them, which is something since there's about 5 billion more people than there are billionares

They should pay all their money to me

or I will hate them

I don't think they should exist.

We should eat them

Lokarin posted...

It's unfair to lump all billionairs together, some of them DO pay their fair share.

I feel very comfortable saying that there's not a single billionaire in the world who pays an amount of taxes that has an impact on their quality of life comparable to what any middle class person feels by paying theirs. This is pretty self-evident: If billionaires did pay that much in taxes, they wouldn't be billionaires.

adjl posted...

Billionaires shouldn't even exist. There are no meaningful quality of life improvements that come from having more than a billion dollars that don't involve exercising far more power over others than any one person should have. Cap net worth at a billion and let them play Cookie Clicker if they're that desperate to watch numbers get bigger meaninglessly.

What is a billionaire?

Zareth posted...

We should eat them

You'd be eating a lot of regressives.

Malleum posted...

You'd be eating a lot of regressives.

so take a Rolaids, too

Malleum posted...

What is a billionaire?

A person with a net worth of 1 billion USD or more.

-kind of taste like chicken.

adjl posted...

A person with a net worth of 1 billion USD or more.

Their assets etc., yes.

Dikitain posted...

For example: Amazon had over $500 billion in gross revenue, that means at a 50% tax rate, they should be paying around $250 billion in taxes.

If you don't understand the difference between Gross and Net, you probably shouldn't be giving financial opinions.

reason posted...

If you don't understand the difference between Gross and Net, you probably shouldn't be giving financial opinions.

Which is my point, no deductions means it should be based off of Gross, not Net. Amazon made $500 billion in gross revenue last year, so they should pay $250 billion to the government. Can't afford it, then you don't deserve to be in business.

Again, I don't think you understand the difference between Gross and Net.

Amazon annual GROSS income for 2023: $574.79B
Amazon annual NET income for 2023: $30.4B

reason posted...

Again, I don't think you understand the difference between Gross and Net.

Amazon annual GROSS income for 2023: $574.79B
Amazon annual NET income for 2023: $30.4B

Yes, which is why I said they should be taxed on the GROSS, not the NET. If your "deductions" from the NET are so great that you can cover a 50% tax on the GROSS, then you shouldn't be in business.

Dikitain posted...

Yes, which is why I said they should be taxed on the GROSS, not the NET. If your "deductions" from the NET are so great that you can cover a 50% tax on the GROSS, then you shouldn't be in business.

Lol what?

also it's not literally 50%, it's a small amount from the first bit, and then a larger amount from the next bit - only the highest chunks get that 50%
...

...which Amazon also doesn't pay. ... and it used to be 70%

Lokarin posted...

also it's not literally 50%, it's a small amount from the first bit, and then a larger amount from the next bit - only the highest chunks get that 50%
...

...which Amazon also doesn't pay. ... and it used to be 70%

The numbers there don't matter since I said the "first" bit should be $1 million, and the gross for amazon is so high that is almost insignificant. For most people/companies though, they aren't making $1 million in one year. So my idea is they wouldn't have to pay anything.

And most of the reason they don't pay it is due to deductions and tax breaks that make their net significantly lower then it should be. My suggestion is to do away with deductions entirely and base all taxes of the gross.

Dikitain posted...

The numbers there don't matter since I said the "first" bit should be $1 million, and the gross for amazon is so high that is almost insignificant. For most people/companies though, they aren't making $1 million in one year. So my idea is they wouldn't have to pay anything.

And most of the reason they don't pay it is due to deductions and tax breaks that make their net significantly lower then it should be. My suggestion is to do away with deductions entirely and base all taxes of the gross.

That still doesn't explain away your original assertion that they should pay 250 billion a year in taxes lol

OhhhJa posted...

That still doesn't explain away your original assertion that they should pay 250 billion a year in taxes lol

The actual numbers would be higher since their gross is closer to $600 billion than $500 billion, or if you wanted to go with a 70% tax rate instead of a 50% one. But I was just rounding numbers to make the math simple.

Yes, but through closing their loopholes. Raising their taxes wont work if theyre just skirting them.

Malleum posted...

What is a billionaire?

A miserable pile of dollars

Once you become rich enough paying the politicians becomes a cheaper option then paying your taxes.

TigerTycoon posted...

Once you become rich enough paying the politicians becomes a cheaper option then paying your taxes.

there's a legitimate point where doing crime and paying the fees saves money over not doing the crime

Lokarin posted...

there's a legitimate point where doing crime and paying the fees saves money over not doing the crime

Bobby Kotick was fined like $300 million for the way in which he took over Activision. He still came out on top dozens of times over.

Get rid of loopholes and make them pay the same % as everyone else

Absolutely!

I think elon and guys like him should be allowed to afford the costco hot dog, dont you think