tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267597063062817567.post4210949396618927652..comments2023-12-24T00:14:00.742-06:00Comments on Cup O' Joel: Income inequality: Rein in the rich or lift up the poor?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267597063062817567.post-74649683873088722332010-12-28T17:56:34.708-06:002010-12-28T17:56:34.708-06:00Lou: I think you're way ahead of me at this po...Lou: I think you're way ahead of me at this point! I'm still at the stage of trying to articulate why income inequality matters. Actual policy prescriptions to address the situation are beyond my purview at this point; I simply don't know enough about possible solutions to argue about them effectively at this point. <br /><br />I'm not AGAINST soaking the rich, necessarily -- but I want to have a better grasp of the data and arguments at hand.Joelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14753052418658482508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267597063062817567.post-72220599644576247632010-12-28T17:44:50.979-06:002010-12-28T17:44:50.979-06:00Joel, this is an interesting conundrum, when some ...Joel, this is an interesting conundrum, when some politician says we should tax the rich, it's the middle class that gets hit. Even if you set the highest tax rate for those that make a million dollars or more, you are hitting the middle class, because most of those people are small business owners with an S corporation. The truly wealthy just look at that tax rate and stop receiving income, living off the royalties and interest until the rates come down.. or move out of the country like John Lennon did to avoid the high taxes in Britain.<br />Now if you really wanted to hit the wealthy, then you raise the taxes on capital gains. But all that does is discourage the wealthy from investing more of their capital, so businesses have to rely on government grants, increase spending and not helping raise revenue.<br />If you want a truly egalitarian tax policy, make S corporations with revenue under $5 million or with under 25 employees. That gives small businesses a revenue advantage and makes it possible for them to hire more people, expand, buy capital equipment and, thereby pay more business and sales taxes while creating more tax payers. It also makes startups more financially viable, which means investors would be more likely to want to invest capital.<br />All this expands the tax base which increases revenue and supports the middle class.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00996694803926395146noreply@blogger.com