Quote:
Originally Posted by Joshua G
yeah...a country with a statue of fuckin liberty should tax its most productive citizens to the point of communism. What a brilliant idea.
hey. if henry ford just paid 90% taxes, we could all be driving horses right now.
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You are kind of horribly misinformed. For a start America HAD your "communism" level taxes and the "fuckin' statue of liberty" survived just fine.
People like Howard Hughes and many other innovators all made squillions with high tax rates and it didn't stifle innovation. The tax rates were that high during the period of unquestioned American glory. Every old white republican arguing for lower taxes and looking back at the good old days of their childhood when America was strong is lionising the period of 90% tax rates.
There are actually valid reasons why a 90% tax rate doesn't stifle things that much. Firstly most idiots don't understand the government isn't taking 90% of your money, it really only affects people earning over $400k/yr so it doesn't stop the innovators dreaming about being millionaires and the guys that do earn a mill a year tend to only be able to do it for a short time, or they're so large they have 1 billion instead of 10 billion.
Secondly it encourages business owners to keep their money in/reinvest in the business which promotes growth, jobs and innovation as they try and find better uses for the money than taking it out as a wage to bump them from $450k/yr to $500k/yr.
Thirdly it promotes the demand side of the economy which is far more important than anything else. I've only ever increased my business due to customer demand. There is an acceptable level of higher tax I would pay to have more consumers willing to spend more money on my products although I wouldn't have a clue what it would be.
That said, no fucking way would I want to pay 90% tax and I don't think that level is reasonable. 50% tax and we might be having a conversation although I'd still try and minimise the shit out of it.