Not April Fools: Americans support infrastructure spending IF more taxes are levied on the wealthy.

[speak easy]

(This has probably posted here already - worth repeating)

54% said they supported infrastructure improvements with tax increases on corporations and Americans making over $400,000

27% of voters supported infrastructure investments without tax hikes.

Among Democrats, 73% supported infrastructure spending with tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations, compared to 32% of Republicans.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/voters-support-paying-infrastructure-taxes-161431339.html

There is broad support for higher taxes on the wealthy

64% strongly or somewhat agreed that “the very rich should contribute an extra share of their total wealth each year to support public programs

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-inequality-poll-idUSKBN1Z9141

[speak easy]

1. Kick

[crickets]

2. K&R for visibility.

[oldsoftie]

3. I support a true infrastructure bill. And I believe we ALL should pay for it.

Raise the tax on the rich, of course, but Merely taxing the wealthy wont raise enough money. Guaranteed. Not even 2% make over 400K a year. But we'll never learn from other countries.
We just keep doing the same shit over & over and the debt continues to balloon.

[Evolve Dammit]

4. When companies like GE and Amazon pay zero taxes, it's pretty fucked up. 90 plus percent under Ike.

[oldsoftie]

7. And NOBODY ever paid that rate or even close to it. So what good was it?

Tax rates are meaningless. What you actually COLLECT is what matters. These multi billion dollar companies shouldn't be paying zero. Set a low rate and do away with deductions. Because of deductions, the average corporation doesnt even pay the Trump rate. In '19, they paid an avg of about 11%. So cut the deductions, make a "minimum tax" & make the rate 15% & we'll collect more revenue than when it was 20 or 35%.
And add in a sales tax to get the millions of people who arent paid by 1099s or W2s. Lord knows HOW many trillions of income are not taxed in that category. I'm in it, I know how it works. I dont know ANYONE who pays an accurate rate. And there's little to nothing that the IRS can do about it. Sales tax gets people like me & them too.
But again, we'll scream "Pay your fair share!" at a small portion of the earners & do nothing else. We always underestimate program costs & overestimate revenue. And it'll be happening when i'm 80 and the debt is 55T. Or 100. Or whatever.
Yes, I'm cynical. Because i've seen this act a dozen times in my life & the ending is always the same.

[Evolve Dammit]

8. Is lack of collection/enforcement of the tax laws a factor? Or is it all the deductions? Just to

understand, when the tax rate was over 90% in the late 50's, you're saying nobody paid it, even at that time?

[oldsoftie]

11. Correct. Nobody paid that rate due to a plethora of available deductions.

I read in a US News article some time ago that in 1960 the top marginal rate on filers with over $1 million in income sat at 91 percent. The actual effective tax rate paid for the same million-dollar bracket was just 46 percent due to the use of deductions and other legal techniques to reduce one's overall tax burden. I will try to find that article if you like.

As for the other part of my post, its not that the collection isnt being done, its that there's no REAL way to track REAL income of many professions. Think of all the people you may hire to do something; painter, auto repair, AC repair, lawyer, therapist, plumber, ANY kind of vacation rentals of any kind, etc.
NONE of those people are getting a W2 or a 1099. They are considered "reported income". And as such, they can "report" pretty much anything they want. Where they get caught is claiming a 50k income but living a 200k lifestyle. I have some rental properties. I pay people to fix things all the time (unfortunately). Sometimes i write a check to the company name, other times i write a check to the man; its HIS company. I get a receipt but thats it. He can report that he did 100 service calls last year or he can report 75. Same with all those others; they can claim whatever they want. Your therapist can report 4 patients a day or 6. whatever she wants. TONS of money go untaxed. I see it every day, every year. Only an audit can catch any of it & every stated income earner cant be audited; theres way too many of them.
But whenever your city or county wants a new school or a new road, what do they do? They ask for a .01 sales tax. And most of the time the voters approve. Because they know that EVERYONE is paying. A sales tax is the only way to truly tax ALL income. And get a larger share of the wealthy's income too. Because trust me, rich people spend a LOT of money.

[Evolve Dammit]

12. Thanks very much. I knew some of that, but not nearly as much as you posted. The article would

interesting if not too much trouble. I always thought the sales tax disproportionately affected low income, in the sense that the basics (food, clothing, cars etc,) the same tax rate applies to buying very high end goods (yachts, Gucci, BMWs . Is that incorrect? Is there a "luxury tax" in existence, which would attempt to address the differences?

[oldsoftie]

13. There used to be a luxury tax but it was repealed. And here's the article.

The luxury tax was meant to tax the wealthy on their purchases. The result, as usual, was avoidance & hurting business. The rich simply bought used boats & cars or bought them out of country. It devastated the US luxury boat industry and raised little money. So it was repealed.

"How to sink an industry & not soak the rich"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1993/07/16/how-to-sink-an-industry-and-not-soak-the-rich/08ea5310-4a4b-4674-ab88-fad8c42cf55b/

"The progressive tax myth"
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2017-10-31/taxes-werent-more-progressive-in-the-1950s

These articles point out things that most folks here just dont want to hear. And thats why I made sure the articles came from reliable sources. Everyone is always eager to jump on the "feel good" train regardless of the reality of how tax rates really work in real life and how far people will go to not pay more than what THEY think is fair. And its another reason sales tax votes pass so often; nobody likes to pay, but if they know everyone else is they'll go along. We need REAL revenue. The debt is out of control. And while the rich DO need to pay more, focusing only on them does little to fix the problem

As for the regressiveness of a sales tax, we're sending out stimulus checks right now. So we send out a flat rate monthly to those under a certain income level, equal to the amount of sales tax they WOULD pay.
It really is the only tax that most will not avoid & that will tax ALL income.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. And those that don't support this increased taxation on the wealthy, who can easily afford this, WHY

NOT? They've reaped the benefits of our robust economy, etc., why NOT?

[LiberalLovinLug]

6. Thank you Bernie. And Elizabeth Warren

I heard many run around with their hair on fire screaming for Bernie to STOP "attacking" capitalism by harping on and on and on about how the wealthy are not paying their fair share, and how we could pay for a lot of good things if they were.

But he droned on. And on. Every chance he had to the point of boredom. Like this one, "The richest 1% is responsible for 70% of all unpaid taxes". or "The top 1% own more than twice as much wealth as the rest of humanity combined".

But it seems that the message has sunken in. I think at least some of the credit goes to Sanders, for his boring repetitive mantra on this topic over the last decade at least.

[Evolve Dammit]

9. well said.

[DENVERPOPS]

10. It is EXTREMELY important

that we not call them tax increases, but what they truly are:

The REPEAL of previous TAX CUTS on the wealthy and Corporations.........

[Celerity]

14. +10000000000000000