If We Tax Rich People… They Will Just Leave!





    Posted by jgs952

    18 Comments

    1. yeah this gets overstated a lot tbh
      some wealthy people do move, but most don’t — ties, business, lifestyle keep them in place
      plus taxes are just one factor, not the only decision driver
      real talk: mobility exists, but it’s not like everyone just packs up overnight lol

    2. NoSwordfish6949 on

      Prior to Ronald Reagan, the top tax bracket was 70%, and our national debt was practically nothing. Prior to 1963, the top tax rate was 90%, and there was no US debt. US debt began skyrocketing under Reagan.

    3. Hot_Function6127 on

      Hint: USA as a financial center is dead. International finance is leaving the USA faster than a sinking ship. We’re stuck with the Christian nationalists, the AI tech bros and the Natural Resource Maximalists.

    4. piratecheese13 on

      That feeling when you forget that America is a giant fucking market and operating within it is a huge advantage.

      This may be true for towns and states, but federally it is not

    5. Mysterious_Might008 on

      Like others have said, it is really an empty bluff. Most wealthy people would be too lazy to move away – and government can easily do the “frog in a pot of water” method to slowly increase the tax burden to stem any real moving away.

      Frankly, taxing authorities should not fear taxing the wealthy. If you lose one billionaire but are able to rake in 5% on the remaining billionaires, you’ll net more money at the end. Plus, if you ever have to reverse this policy, you can wear the white hat and claim that you “cut taxes” (for the billionaires – but leave that out).

    6. PointlessCupcake on

      Rich should not pay any taxes. There should be a pressure to move from being poor and reward for being rich. Punishment for success is the most stupid thing I have ever heard. If you reward poor people – guess what? more people will feel comfortable being poor, duh!

    7. This is a lie as old as time and common rich propaganda. Every time the robber barons get enough money that the rest of us think they should not exist anymore they say they will just leave and take all of the jobs wealth and taxes with them!

      They do not create quality permanent jobs, they make transitive temporary construction and then low quality gig/1099/minimum wage work and get billions in tax breaks to make those jobs! So they generally don’t pay taxes, or negligible amounts, and don’t actually create jobs.

      There is nowhere else in the world you can live with this quality of life and pay so little tax, even the stuff being proposed now we would still be lagging behind most of the world in tax rate. Tax Havens historically are not the best places to live.

      Demand side economics is coming for billionaires and their precious bottom line.

    8. It depends on what you think taxes are for.

      If they’re meant to fund government and public services, cutting tax revenue (by forcing people to leave) is obviously bad.

      But if your goal is just to make “the rich” pay more (which often just means anyone richer than you), then it’s good.

    9. I_Do_Too_Much on

      I’m wealthy and I’m leaving the US. But I’m moving to a country with higher taxes. The taxes in that country actually do right by the citizens though. People get free healthcare, lifted out of poverty, great public transportation, etc. And the country doesn’t spend millions of dollars per day starting some bullshit war on the other side of the world while throwing people in gulags. It doesn’t have corrupt child molesting leadership with zero accountability.

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