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A comment on Peter Thiel turned a Roth IRA into a $5B tax-free piggy bank. Parent comment

Re:Peter Thiel turned a Roth IRA into a $5B tax-free piggy bank by godelski on Thursday June 24, 2021 @07:31PM (#27625267)
That's not how I read the article at all. Honestly how I read it shows how he was able to abuse the system in ways that weren't intended. It also lays out clear and simple solutions:

- Only let publicly traded stocks/investments be part of an IRA

- Stock grants should be included in the maximal income to determine if someone should be able to contribute to an IRA

Honestly with just these two factors he couldn't have done what he did (implicitly nor anyone else with mega IRAs). The intent of the IRA was for a retirement vehicle for the average person, not as an investment vehicle where you could dodge taxes. You're right that he didn't commit any crimes. But that also doesn't make the thing right. When we find people using edge cases and breaking the intent of the system we say "well played" then patch the framework.

This is a tax dodge, just a legal one.

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Re:Peter Thiel turned a Roth IRA into a $5B tax-free piggy bank by sfblah on Thursday June 24, 2021 @07:44PM (#27625374)
Just impose a tax when capital gains exceed some annual threshold averaged over a time period (say 5 years). Also, make everything after the first, say, $1m taxable on withdrawal at cap gains rates. It’s super easy to fix this.
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Re:Peter Thiel turned a Roth IRA into a $5B tax-free piggy bank by godelski on Thursday June 24, 2021 @08:03PM (#27625506)
I mean I'd be perfectly okay with adding a third criteria to my list being something like "max holdings of $10m (tied to inflation) and returns higher than that are taxed as capital gains." That's enough to ensure a luxurious retirement. But I do think the other parts are helpful and would help reduce other avenues for abuse. The IRA was intended for lower and middle class people to build retirement investments. Also 1m seems low for the maximum. At least IMO.
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Re:Peter Thiel turned a Roth IRA into a $5B tax-free piggy bank by nrdvana on Thursday June 24, 2021 @10:20PM (#27626491)
> The IRA was marketed as a way for lower and middle class people to build retirement investments.

The pessimist in me FTFY

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Re:Peter Thiel turned a Roth IRA into a $5B tax-free piggy bank by sfblah on Thursday June 24, 2021 @11:09PM (#27626747)
Right. It's actually pretty easy to craft tax laws that help the middle class and below without enabling someone to have a $5B tax-free slush fund. People that argue the current situation is reasonable are just being silly.
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