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One Man Can Give Homes to All Homeless in America

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by deb4rockets, Dec 13, 2021.

  1. FranchiseBlade

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    She is in the senate and gets credit for her attempts to improve the tax code.

    He may pay capital gains for what he sells depending on whether or not he makes lateral stock transitions with it. But captial gains is a whole other thread.
     
  2. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Member
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    his claim is "I will pay more taxes than any American in history this year." That should easily be fact-checkable when the time comes
     
  3. FranchiseBlade

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    I don't doubt that he is telling the truth. That was't my issue. My issue is that his tax burden is less. The problem with a situation where he pays more isn't really important.

    If a person only makes 20K a year and has to pay 10% of their salary they are down to 18K left for the year. If Musk makes 200 million and pays 10% of that. He pays 20 million and is left with 180 million. The pain of his taxes paid is zero. He won't have to cut back on anything to cover for his tax bill.

    He can still go around and brag about how much more he's paying in taxes than anyone else. The 2K the person paid making 20K really makes them have to change their spending and budgeting. It's a greater burden.

    These numbers are obviously made up, but it's the reason why him simply claiming that the amount of dollars he paid in taxes isn't important. It's also why I hate the idea of a flat tax. The flat tax causes much greater pain to those at the bottom of the scale than those at the top.
     
  4. rockbox

    rockbox Around before clutchcity.com

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    I have a real problem with taxing unrealized gains. It's mostly funny money until he cashes the stocks or spends the money. However, when he does cash out on it, it should be taxed like regular income and no the BS capital gains taxe rates from Bush.
     
  5. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Member
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    I understand your overall point, but I don't see how you can conclude the bolded. The point of taxation is not to "inflict pain" ("The pain of his taxes paid is zero"). The point of taxation (among other things) in the modern welfare state is distributive justice.
     
  6. tinman

    tinman 999999999
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    the big problem about the homeless is not rich people paying taxes

    it's the programs that do nothing to improve the homeless situation. Instead these programs only ATTRACT more homeless people.
    Specifically homeless people going to where drug use and selling IS NOT considered a big crime.

    You can see that all these states and cities have spent billions and it hasn't solved anything.

    Going after James Harden or LeBron or Elon is dumb, especially since they are following the dumb rules that are in place.

    Yeah, all these rich people are getting paid in stock not salary. You can't tax people based on their net worth of stock that they haven't sold.
     
  7. Space Ghost

    Space Ghost Member

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    Its people like Warren, Bernie and the OP who have no idea of the implications of taxing unrealized gains. The challenge is not to accumulate wealth but instead to maintain it.

    OP suggests Musk liquidate half of his perceived wealth (lets call it $300B) and give $150B to a dumb charitable cause. The more Musk liquidates his shares the less valuable the stock becomes. A 25% liquidation of his Tesla stock could lead to an overall 50% drop in Tesla stock. As SpaceX is propped up by his Tesla stock, SpaceX will lose massive value (ie: go bankrupt). Then you have Biden who thinks Mary, Ford, Rivian and Lucid Air will somehow fill the gap.

    Meanwhile, OP is too fixated on an arbitrary value that makes a person wealthy all while ignoring what Google, Facebook and Amazon are doing.(Ie: keeping her ignorant)
     
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  8. tinman

    tinman 999999999
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    Non of these people you mentioned took an economics or accounting course in their life .

    they probably think math is a choice
     
  9. FranchiseBlade

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    Couldn't be more wrong. Warren was successful in the banking sector prior to her current occupation.
     
  10. tinman

    tinman 999999999
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    Warren was in banking

    Elon IS BANK
     
  11. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Member
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    https://reason.com/2021/12/15/eliza...taxes-and-stop-freeloading-off-everyone-else/

    Elizabeth Warren Told Elon Musk To 'Actually Pay Taxes' and 'Stop Freeloading Off Everyone Else'
    Musk responded that he will pay more in taxes this year than any other American in history.
    by Liz Wolfe

    [​IMG]
    Tesla CEO and world's richest person Elon Musk, who has an estimated net worth of $251 billion, was denounced yesterday by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.), who has long been in showy pursuit of getting millionaires and billionaires to pay their "fair share."

    Time had just named Musk its Person of the Year, so Warren tweeted: "Let's change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else." Musk tried a few different responses on for size, including "You remind me of when I was a kid and my friend's angry Mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason," "Please don't call the manager on me, Senator Karen," and then "Don't spend it all at once … oh wait you did already."
    Musk's best response was to counter the claim that he won't pay taxes this year—a common talking point from those who won't acknowledge that many ultra-rich founders and CEOs accrue such high net worths not via traditional salaries alone (or in some cases at all) but via a mix of stock options, capital gains, interests, dividends, and business income. Though Musk did not pay federal income taxes back in 2018 (because he took out loans against Tesla shares), he will be on the hook to pay an extreme amount this year: potentially between $9 billion and $10 billion, if he exercises soon-to-expire stock options.

    The Wall Street Journal reports that Musk
    Though outlets like ProPublica engage in a fair bit of finger-wagging on the matter, many of the ways ultra-rich people avoid paying extremely high tax bills are perfectly legal. And many uber-wealthy people, armed with financial advisers, do all kinds of things that "working rich" and upper-middle-class people don't: They use low-interest loans backed by their portfolios to borrow money to live on; they decide when to sell stocks based off how much they'll be dinged by capital gains taxes; they find all kinds of assets where they can park their wealth or transfer it from generation to generation without having to give a huge cut to the federal government.

    While Warren was hectoring Musk for failing to "actually pay taxes," 61 percent of Americans (roughly 100 million households) actually, for real, didn't pay federal income taxes last year. Now, last year was a bit anomalous due to high unemployment and the stimulus checks, but the number typically hovers somewhere between 40 and 47 percent, comprised by people who make low incomes, take advantage of child-related tax credits, or are elderly. And roughly 20 percent of Americans end up paying neither federal income tax nor payroll taxes.

    The Tax Foundation noted that in 2018, the top 25 percent of taxpayers paid 87 percent of total federal income taxes. The top 1 percent pony up roughly 40 percent of total federal income taxes. Warren's spending priorities are largely bankrolled by the richest people in America—to the extent that they're bankrolled at all, as opposed to being added to the exorbitant national debt. Part of her critique is fair: Musk's use of government subsidies does constitute freeloading off the American taxpayers. But the rest is somewhere between misleading and dishonest.

    "The government is inherently not a good steward of capital," Musk told Time for its Person of the Year profile. Regrettably, Musk will likely be forking over a handsome sum this year to the very people he has correctly identified as people unlikely to spend it well.

    The post Elizabeth Warren Told Elon Musk To 'Actually Pay Taxes' and 'Stop Freeloading Off Everyone Else' appeared first on Reason.com.
     
  12. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Member
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  13. FranchiseBlade

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    I don't want the increased taxes on the rich so that they have to feel the same pain. It isn't punitive. However, they can afford to pay more without causing the pain, and if you believe taxes are punitive, then it shouldn't be those lowest on the scale who are punished the most.

    Either way, the mega-wealthy can and should pay more with fewer loopholes.
     
  14. adoo

    adoo Member

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    there you go again, OT, falling for intellectually dishonest spin


    the dishonest author conveniently ommitted to mention that Musk had earned more income than any other american in history.

    why the intellectually dishonest Mush would not say what his effective tax rate is?

    a good way to solve this would be for both Musk and Warren to disclose their respective tax returns
     
  15. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Member
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    you're a broken record

    Screen Shot 2021-12-17 at 1.02.06 PM.png
     
    StupidMoniker and Space Ghost like this.
  16. adoo

    adoo Member

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    a mirror reflection of you cutting n pasting intellectually dishonest articles.

    in a roundabout way, OT agrees that it is a intellectually dishonest article
     
  17. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Member
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    [​IMG]
     
  18. StupidMoniker

    StupidMoniker I lost a bet

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    LOL, do sleight of hand next.
     
    Os Trigonum likes this.
  19. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Member
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    lol. who knew

    Screen Shot 2021-12-17 at 3.27.58 PM.png
     
  20. Os Trigonum

    Os Trigonum Member
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