Why we need to return to higher marginal tax rates and close loopholes.

[augyboston]

Exhibit A as to why we need to return to higher marginal tax rates and eliminate loopholes on incomes.

Next time you think some billionaire is being generous and you think we should depend on their acts of kindness instead of them being taxed fairly and the government allocating the revenues - THINK TWICE!

Read this eye opening article in today's Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/03/billionaires-pandemic-giving-super-rich

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Yes, absolutely.

I have long been astonished and been appalled by those who think minimizing taxes is the very most important thing they need to pay attention to. Really? Shouldn't be involved in civic exchanges be more important?

[LiberalArkie]

2. Historical Tax Rates

https://taxfoundation.org/us-federal-individual-income-tax-rates-history-1913-2013-nominal-and-inflation-adjusted-brackets

[JHB]

3. Also, restore the bracket ranges

In the 50s, there were 24 tax brackets, 16 of which (two thirds) kicked in at income above the equivalent of $250K in 2013 dollars. 11 of those kicked in at levels above the equivalent of $500K. The top rate with the 91% rate kicked in above the equivalent of about $3.5 million.

Thanks to inflation and tax cuts, brackets above the equivalent of $500K were eliminated and only one or two affected above $250K. That happened under Reagan, but no tax reform since then has even attempted restoring anything like the old bracket structure even with reduced rates.

It was all about slashing taxes for the economic stratosphere.

[Bettie]

4. The foundations that are spoken of in this article

are just tax dodges....ways to keep their hoard of wealth and give themselves the illusion that they are helping people, when truly they are helping themselves far more.

Who NEEDS multiple billions of dollars. NO one. Billionaires are a symptom of the sickness of our society.

[theaocp]

5. Donor class says no.

Nothing will fundamentally change.

[fescuerescue]

6. Wait so. So Billionaires giving millions to charty

so they can reduce their taxes by hundreds of thousands is bad?

I wonder what would happen if we took away the charity deduction? Of course we know.

Honestly I don't care what their motivation is. I'm happy that they are redistributing their wealth to charities.

[crickets]

7. Eye-opening.

But the notion that philanthropy is a private preserve, apart from the government, is a myth. The wealthier the donor, the more advantaged the charitable tax deduction becomes. For every dollar donated by a billionaire to their private foundation, we the taxpayers chip in as much as 74¢ on the dollar in lost tax revenue.

Just tax them already, and pin them down to actually pay those taxes.