• wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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    7 days ago

    If they have billions of dollars, they’re not strapped for cash. They have a whole culture and industry designed around tax “optimization” where they buy private yachts, mansions, paintings, and other “real” assets under shell companies to write those purchases off as “business expenses” to reduce their tax liability. That’s why they “don’t have cash”. Because they deliberately avoid holding cash across fiscal years.

    They also have sneaky ways of avoiding capital gains tax by reinvesting dividends in ways that defer taxation indefinitely.

    That all needs to change, and the only way to change it is through tax policy.

    The only way to defer capital gains taxes should be through certain retirement plans, which are generally used by the working class because billionaires don’t need 401Ks. And they still get taxed at the end of term when the money is withdrawn, and they can’t be withdrawn from early without a tax penalty.

    All these exceptions for billionaires written into the fine lines of the tax code that you need to be able to afford a personal accountant and layers of shell companies in order to utilize needs to go away.

    Billionaires have the money to pay taxes; we need to stop allowing them to pretend they don’t.

    • krisevol@lemmus.org
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      7 days ago

      They don’t have a billion dollars. So where did the money come from to pay the tax?

      I’ll tell you, it’s you. The consumer.

      I bet you think China pays the tarrifs too

      • hark@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        If the valuations are bullshit, then the tax code should call them out on it so that valuations wouldn’t be so inflated. If the valuations aren’t bullshit, then they should be able to sell to get the money.

        • krisevol@lemmus.org
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          6 days ago

          But they aren’t the ones evaluating it, the stock holders and buyers are. Plus i agree they should be able to sell it, but I’m a system where every billionaire is running to the open market to sell stocks for taxes wouldn’t work because other would pull out of the market. So the value is the sticks would install go down to realistic p/e earnings. Essentially wiping out the wealth we are trying to tax.

          • hark@lemmy.world
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            5 days ago

            They are a stock buyer and holder, so they take part in that pricing. If inflated valuations became a detriment, the stocks would be priced accordingly. We shouldn’t desire unrealistic p/e ratios.