• boonhet@lemm.ee
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      18 days ago

      You don’t fuck with the tax man. They got Al Capone, they’ll get you, and they’ll get the billionaires, if the laws are right and there’s enough funding to investigate ownership structures of large companies, and the relationships between different major shareholders.

      Plus I don’t think anyone has hundreds of family members to hide away hundreds of billions.

      Besides, you’d have to divide it before the company gets large enough for it to matter. If your company is worth 800 mill and you’re the only shareholder, selling off half to anyone for anything significantly less than the perceived value of the company, would be investigated as potential tax evasion.

      I think a lot of people forget that tax authorities are supposed to look for these cases of hiding wealth. In many civilized countries, they do it for real.

        • boonhet@lemm.ee
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          18 days ago

          Because the current tax code is designed for him, not drag. That’s what I would like to change if I was elected benevolent dictator for life with no risk of being deposed by the oligarchs. For the super wealthy, tax all assets, for the super poor, tax nothing and give UBI, and for the working and middle class, a fair progressive income tax, and property tax on homes you don’t live in year-round, but none on your primary residence. In terms of income tax, the tax brackets would go up slowly at first and then ramp up really high. Someone making 100k a year should pay roughly what they pay now, those making less should pay less, and those making 500k+ a year should pay a lot more than they pay now.

          • Dragon Rider (drag)@lemmy.nz
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            18 days ago

            So you’re describing a theoretical version of the IRS that’s a hundred times more competent than the real one? Interesting.

            • boonhet@lemm.ee
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              18 days ago

              We’re talking about a hypothetical future anyway, whether it be guillotining oligarchs, full on communism with no private property, or my proposed middle ground between the current shitshow and a total “no private property” totalitarian state. IRS could be pretty competent, but they lack funding, and the tax code itself is riddled with loopholes.

              Out of any place the US government could invest, IRS has one of the better returns. You invest a dollar and get several back. Mostly from rich tax evaders