this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
96 points (89.3% liked)

politics

19138 readers
3339 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
all 20 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This seems misleading. 28% is less than Biden’s 39.6% tax proposal for 2025, but still greater than the 20% tax we have now. More importantly, this proposal would just be a request - Congress can make whatever amendments they want.

I could be wrong and would accept evidence to the contrary, but I don’t think Congress was going to pass Biden’s 40% proposal for FY25, anyway, in which case 28% would be a compromise in the right direction.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I think she’s making the same mistake Obama made with healthcare: coming from a background as senators under Republican presidents, they gravitate toward proposals that would likely have passed as-is in the Congresses they served in; but when it’s a Democratic president making the proposal, it needs to be more robust because Congress will water it down as a matter of principle no matter how moderate it is to start with.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 month ago

She is already caving to special interests

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think it'd be great if the tax rate on gains (when selling stock) was based on the entire value of all stocks a person has.

So if Elon sell some stock (a dollar or a billion), his gains tax rate is higher than someone selling stock whose entire stock value is less.

It'd also be nice if retirement accounts (401k, Ira) were excluded from this.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

This is the right idea imo. Tax wealth, not income.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So I have a stupid question: Is the current 20% tax actually enforced against actually rich people?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

Mostly yes.

You get people selling off companies or several depreciated rental properties, and they get hit with the tax and can't get out of it.

There are some circumstances that they can manipulate though. When the stock market crashed in 2008, people sold off at enormous realized losses, sat on the cash for thirty days to avoid the wash rule, and bought right back in at the same low prices.

That created years worth of carried over losses that enabled them to recognize capital gains at zero tax.

It's a reasonably common strategy called loss harvesting.

Certain flavors of stock options appear to be tax free at time of sale, but this is because the initial grant was deemed W-2 wages and was taxed when it was issued at ordinary income rates.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago

Yes, but no. Yes if you sell your asset at a gain you pay taxes. However, if you don’t realize your gain and instead use your asset as a collateral in a loan, you don’t pay taxes. That’s why the rich pay no taxes whatsoever. For instance, Bezos has 2 bln in outstanding loans. As a collateral he uses his 200 bln share in Amazon. He never pays taxes.

The proposal by Harris would fix this and tax gains prior to realization. If she succeeds that is a much bigger deal than whether the rate is 20,30 or 40 percent.

[–] MCasq_qsaCJ_234 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think that tax would actually end up being 16%.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

Never underestimate these Democrats capability to bargain with imaginary opponents.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Damn they'll be debating on my birthday? Now that's a hell of a present.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Harris unveils plan for 28% capital gains tax, softening Biden's proposal for 40% rate

Increasing the capital gains tax will squeeze out middle class a little bit more, but the richest people borrow against their assets instead of selling them. Interest is paid to banks, federal budget gets nothing.

But you won't hear neither Harris nor Biden talking about fixing this loophole

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

It’s not a loophole. It’s how it was purposefully designed.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wait

I thought Biden was the worst person in the world and hated unions and working people and loved the rich and was so much a tool of capital he was indistinguishable from the Republicans they were collaborating to strengthen the corporate oligarchy strangling our country and that’s why we have to vote for Cornel West etc etc

Now that he can’t actually be elected, we need to be upset that Kamala Harris only wants to increase the capital gains tax by 40% and not the 100% that Biden was going to do

Do I have that right?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Capital Gains tax will impact the middle class more than the rich. Poor to middle class people sell stocks, rich people take loans out against their assets, which isn’t taxed at nearly the same rate, interest is paid to banks, not the government, and no assets are ever sold.