• swiftcasty@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

    I remember seeing this argument about billionaires and corporations leaving the US if they are taxed fairly at a national level. If that were the case then 1. The US wouldn’t lose out on revenue it wasn’t losing out on already, and 2. The “free market” or the government would adapt to fill the abandoned niche.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Besides we would all be better off if people like that left. Human happiness levels off around 110k per year, on average in the US. If there really are people who would give up all the things that make normal people happy just to add a marginal amount to their net worth, do we really want them?

        We have all unfortunately met someone like this. Someone who cuts the line at an all you can eat buffet. All the food you could possibly want and they are angry that someone else might possibly get slightly more of something. And that isn’t fair. Someone who has a fake job with almost no work and tries to find ways out of that even token tasks.

        Let them leave.

        • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          Source on the 110k number? Because I remember reading something about 75k not that long ago and inflation couldn’t have been that bad could it?

          • schmidtster@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            The average US rate is 25% while the average Western Europe rate is below 20%….

            They even get more out of those taxes too.

            • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Ok, now what’s the top tax bracket? We’re talking about people making >$1M/yr.

              • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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                11 months ago

                10% $0 to $11,000.

                12% $11,001 to $44,725.

                22% $44,726 to $95,375.

                24% $95,376 to $182,100.

                32% $182,101 to $231,250.

                35% $231,251 to $578,125.

                37% $578,126 or more.

                If you make $579k, you don’t pay 37% of that. You pay the above rate for each range of dollars you earn. So everyone pays 10% on the first $11k they earn.

                There’s also deductions including the standard deduction of $13,850 (so subtract that from what you earned)

                Some good information: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/federal-income-tax-brackets

                • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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                  11 months ago

                  Yes, I understand how marginal rates work.

                  The one we’re talking about is the state income tax:

                  5% - $0 to $1,000,000

                  9% - $1,000,000+

              • schmidtster@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                They aren’t paying the highest marginal tax rates, that’s what the loopholes are for. Trusts are well known for this exact scenario.

        • JDubbleu@programming.dev
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          11 months ago

          California. Highest taxes in the US, yet we generate 14.2% of the country’s GDP despite being 11.7% of the population. We have an economy the size Germany (who has the world’s 4th largest economy) with 46.4% the population.

          People talk shit about the state, how awful it is, etc, and while we do have many problems we’re doing pretty damn well all things considered. If we get housing and healthcare fixed (both active efforts by our government) we’ll be in an amazing position as a state.

          • MSgtRedFox
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            10 months ago

            California is weird like that. I’ve seen plenty of sentiments about California surviving standalone as its own nation.

            Without doing any research, most of us assume the revenue and economy is based on key industries like tech, agriculture?

            Would the states survive if it didn’t have his current water supply for agriculture?

            With the Exodus of some tech companies, what is that trend look like overall? If it continues, will the state still be in the same good shape?

            I’m assuming the great weather has something to do with it?