alt Hacker News> Globalization has played a big role in creating the massive income inequality in our country; it seems like we should fix that.
Wouldn't restoring the prior taxes to those with highest incomes, and adding a proper capital gains tax, address this directly? As I've started to accumulate small amounts of wealth I've realized, my capital gains are taxed lower than my income; when I sell my house, I get up to 500k of gains tax free. If I backdoor a Roth IRA, I get tax free gains there too. etc. Add additional taxes to investment properties, in the form of property taxes could be one approach as well - I personally know of one investor that owns at least 20 (SFH) properties for example. So I'd propose starting there, as it targets both the wealth gap as well as hits those who can most afford it directly.
> Tariffs accomplish both of those, raising money at the same time as raising cost of goods and weakening the dollar.
If tariffs significantly reduce demand, or worse cause a recession, they will have the opposite effect. It would take time to sort out the full impact. But AFAIK, the tax cuts are proposed to be pushed through immediately, without firm corresponding spending reductions nor time to sort out the impact of the tariffs; similarly the tariffs are being implemented in what seems like a haphazard way, with everyone unsure of what they would / will be, how much, etc.
In general, I think if the plan were modest tax increases, esp. around capital gains policy and targeting SFH as investments, (very) modest tariffs, and well executed spending cuts, nobody would be in uproar. I will be pleasantly surprised if the current plan ends well, but it certainly feels as though only those steeped deeply in ideology are supportive of them at the present moment, and I think that is probably telling.
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It is absolutely wild to me that money gained from letting it sit is taxed less than money gained from working your ass off. A crime against the working class.
You need to enforce monopoly laws, and more important than individual tax rates, you need to get the tax base spread out correctly again.
1950: 25% tax revenue came from personal income. 25% from social security. 25% from businesses. 25% from excise taxes.
Today: 50% tax revenue from personal income. 35% from social security. 7% from business. 7% from excise taxes.
This problem is never understood.
Thomas Sowell makes a good argument that the government does a terrible job at redistributing wealth to lift the poor, based on their track record. And so taxing the rich more doesnt actually solve that problem — it just makes politicians and their friends richer.
Also when talking about tariffs reducing demand and inflating prices, I think it’s important to note that’s partly true. It doesn’t raise prices of domestic goods and actually increases demand for domestic goods.
No, tax increases will not create better jobs to backfill the ones moved overseas by globalization.
You can tax whoever you want as much as you want but the problem is the industries from the past are no longer in this country.