VC firms are pioneering a new investment strategy: acquiring established businesses and optimizing them with AI to boost efficiency and customer reach.
In the US we do that to some extent but not for the wealthy. Somehow we ended up with upper middle class paying the highest rate, then tax rates dropping as you get wealthy. It’s fair that I pay a higher rate than someone with less income, but very much not fair that I pay a higher tax rate than wealthy people
Is that actual rates? Or is the looking at different kind of taxes? I was talking about income tax + social security if you get it.
People with massive company structures can always pay less tax. Or at least less at this point in time. The only way to change rhis if every country works together to fix it
The ladder of progressive rates ends too early, so actual income tax rates do not go up after something like half a million income. That’s a lot for most of us but does not begin to cover the wealthy
Many tax cuts over the last few decades were specific to other types of income, generally available to the wealthy
For example if you were like Elon Musk, the richest person in the world (sometimes) who gets little to no salary and is paid mainly with stock options, you’d pay at most 37% on your salary, same as any basic millionaire but the bulk of your income would count as long term capital gains and taxed at 20%, lowering your effective rate. Even better, you could take loans against your stock and never “realize” the gains so never pay taxes on it.
There are many other tricks you can pull to count your income as other that income and taxed at a lower rate. Last time we had that debate, Warren Buffet, another of the richest men in the world wrote an opinion piece in support of changes that he could take advantage such that he paid a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. Nice try but quickly disappeared under a flood of propaganda from other rich people
Technically anyone could be paid in stock like Elon musk, and live off loans on stock like Elon musk, and pay a much lower effective tax rate like Elon musk, but it’s a practical Impossibility for most of us
Technically we could all form a trust like the Kennedys and many other wealthy families, hold all of our assets. The trust has several ways to avoid taxes and i believe is taxed at the corporate rate, which is also now lower than personal tax rates. And the trust can cover all of our expenses and write them off from its income, while we owe little to no income tax. Realistically most of us couldn’t afford the lawyers to make that happen much less the prerequisites to dodge the taxes
In the US we do that to some extent but not for the wealthy. Somehow we ended up with upper middle class paying the highest rate, then tax rates dropping as you get wealthy. It’s fair that I pay a higher rate than someone with less income, but very much not fair that I pay a higher tax rate than wealthy people
Is that actual rates? Or is the looking at different kind of taxes? I was talking about income tax + social security if you get it.
People with massive company structures can always pay less tax. Or at least less at this point in time. The only way to change rhis if every country works together to fix it
Effective rates
For example if you were like Elon Musk, the richest person in the world (sometimes) who gets little to no salary and is paid mainly with stock options, you’d pay at most 37% on your salary, same as any basic millionaire but the bulk of your income would count as long term capital gains and taxed at 20%, lowering your effective rate. Even better, you could take loans against your stock and never “realize” the gains so never pay taxes on it.
There are many other tricks you can pull to count your income as other that income and taxed at a lower rate. Last time we had that debate, Warren Buffet, another of the richest men in the world wrote an opinion piece in support of changes that he could take advantage such that he paid a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. Nice try but quickly disappeared under a flood of propaganda from other rich people
Technically anyone could be paid in stock like Elon musk, and live off loans on stock like Elon musk, and pay a much lower effective tax rate like Elon musk, but it’s a practical Impossibility for most of us
Technically we could all form a trust like the Kennedys and many other wealthy families, hold all of our assets. The trust has several ways to avoid taxes and i believe is taxed at the corporate rate, which is also now lower than personal tax rates. And the trust can cover all of our expenses and write them off from its income, while we owe little to no income tax. Realistically most of us couldn’t afford the lawyers to make that happen much less the prerequisites to dodge the taxes