Taxes - where should top tax rate be set and at what %?

[Anonymous]

I know there are a lot of high income people on these boards so I'm curious what you think we should do about the problem of income inequality.

[Anonymous]

Income inequality and marginal tax rates and brackets are unrelated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Income inequality and marginal tax rates and brackets are unrelated.

How so? The only idea people seem to have for smoothing it out is to redistribute income from upper earners to lower.

[Anonymous]

"Income inequality" refers to household incomes. The biggest contributors to it are the vast increase in single-parent households at one end, and married dual-income households at the other end. The latter is further exacerbated by the tendency for potential high-earners to exclusively mate with other potential high-earners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Income inequality and marginal tax rates and brackets are unrelated.

They're certainly not unrelated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Income inequality" refers to household incomes. The biggest contributors to it are the vast increase in single-parent households at one end, and married dual-income households at the other end. The latter is further exacerbated by the tendency for potential high-earners to exclusively mate with other potential high-earners.

No the biggest problem is that the top 10-20% are the only people seeing real wage growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Income inequality" refers to household incomes. The biggest contributors to it are the vast increase in single-parent households at one end, and married dual-income households at the other end. The latter is further exacerbated by the tendency for potential high-earners to exclusively mate with other potential high-earners.

No the biggest problem is that the top 10-20% are the only people seeing real wage growth.

While somewhat true, that's a very minor factor compared to what I outlined. Additionally, your claim is a lot less true if you look at total compensation, including the employer share of health insurance, which has skyrocketed. You can't responsibly ignore that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Income inequality and marginal tax rates and brackets are unrelated.

How so? The only idea people seem to have for smoothing it out is to redistribute income from upper earners to lower.

People are small minded.

Wealth redistribution through taxation does not address income inequality. High earners will still earn a lot. Low earners will not.

[Anonymous]

There should be a top tax rate for millionaires of 50 percent. And an estate tax of 75 percent on estates worth more than $50 million.

No loopholes or deductions.

[Anonymous]

I think that wealthy do need to pay their share of taxes. I do, and it's how the free world works. Nurses, teachers, laborers are all paying taxes that cover services that we all benefit from. I was at a dinner party the other night and three of the very wealthy men there were bragging that they hadn't paid taxes in over a decade (legally through loop holes). I asked if they were embarrassed that their kids' teachers and the mail man were paying for their snow removal, road maintenance, police protection, fire department etc. They were a little stunned, and I was a little sickened by their attitude. And for what it's worth, one was a Trump supporter and the other two were liberals.

[Anonymous]

Married couples earning more than $150k should be paying 45% or 50% on all income above $150k.

Obviously, the brackets would be adjusted accordingly, but that's a rough idea where it should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that wealthy do need to pay their share of taxes. I do, and it's how the free world works. Nurses, teachers, laborers are all paying taxes that cover services that we all benefit from. I was at a dinner party the other night and three of the very wealthy men there were bragging that they hadn't paid taxes in over a decade (legally through loop holes). I asked if they were embarrassed that their kids' teachers and the mail man were paying for their snow removal, road maintenance, police protection, fire department etc. They were a little stunned, and I was a little sickened by their attitude. And for what it's worth, one was a Trump supporter and the other two were liberals.

Wow, go you! My Hero of the Day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be a top tax rate for millionaires of 50 percent. And an estate tax of 75 percent on estates worth more than $50 million.

No loopholes or deductions.

You can't just say "no loopholes or deductions." You'll just get families putting those assets into trusts and limited partnerships. Those aren't going away, and you can't just take them away from one group of people.

[Anonymous]

Our effective rate is about 30% for federal, 6% for state. Plus we pay FICA on a % (although it is pretty small because it is only on a small portion of the money). Plus the new surtax. So, all in, about 38%. Going up to 40-42% would probably be ok, but at some point, it would have the opposite effect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be a top tax rate for millionaires of 50 percent. And an estate tax of 75 percent on estates worth more than $50 million.

No loopholes or deductions.

The high estate tax is a little hard to accept if you have already paid your 40% income tax on it. I don't think money should be taxed twice in the same family, but if you have it hidden away free from tax and then it changes hands through death, then maybe.