Tax Evasion at the Top of the Income Distribution: Theory and Evidence

Re:Tax Evasion at the Top of the Income Distribution: Theory... by WalterBright on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @03:24PM (#27199742)

> my general take is that the top 1% by income do pay roughly their fair share but the top 1% by wealth don't

What evidence do you have of that?

> Why do we tax capital gains at a lower rate than productive labor?

Because it's already been taxed (corporate tax rates). Labor expenses come out of pretax revenue.

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Re:Tax Evasion at the Top of the Income Distribution: Theory... by throwawaygh on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @04:08PM (#27200344)

>> my general take is that the top 1% by income do pay roughly their fair share but the top 1% by wealth don't

> What evidence do you have of that?

The tax rate on my salary is way higher than the tax rate on my investments and property.

It's perhaps possible that the top 1% by income are also not paying their fair share, but in that case the top 1% by wealth definitely aren't.

> Because it's already been taxed (corporate tax rates). Labor expenses come out of pretax revenue.

So what? I pay taxes on my grocery bill, and I buy groceries with money I already paid taxes on.

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Re:Tax Evasion at the Top of the Income Distribution: Theory... by WalterBright on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @05:06PM (#27201140)

> So what? I pay taxes on my grocery bill, and I buy groceries with money I already paid taxes on

As you will with capital gains income. Saying it's ok to triple tax capital gains because wages are double taxed doesn't work.

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Re:Tax Evasion at the Top of the Income Distribution: Theory... by throwawaygh on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @09:59AM (#27208716)

I'm saying that controlling the number of times a dollar is taxed simply isn't a policy objective I care about.

I.e., "so what?"

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