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YaAbsolyutnoNikto t1_iwpmqb4 wrote

Reply to comment by brycyclecrash in To save the world or to shape a better world, what is the most critical action to take? by Born-Worth-5611

But like... how? Most billionaires are billionaires in the form of equity, not actual cash.

You can tax their dividends more or increase capital gains tax, for example, but that's just a small piece of the pie.

You can't really tax their equity appreciation because that fundamentally doesn't make much sense. It would be like the government taxing you if the housing prices go up in your region (assuming your home appreciated too). You don't have that money, the market simply decided the homes are worth more now. You'd potentially have to sell your home just to pay the taxes to the government, which would create a bunch of issues.

I suppose you can force them to sell equity, but that could cause severe artificial disruptions in the market due to all billionaires selling their holdings (plunging prices and causing a recession) and also being a breach of private property.

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[deleted] t1_iwpn4aq wrote

Most people don’t think about how their “solution” could be realistically applied in the first place. Whatever one might think, attempting to tax the rich will always end up hurting the poor more than the rich themselves.

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brycyclecrash t1_iwqfmls wrote

Little things like Capital gains tax, monopoly busting, and regulations on the stock market. I'm no economist but I know it's possible and won't hurt the poor.

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YaAbsolyutnoNikto t1_iwqjfns wrote

Yes, but all those things (like we have in the EU) don’t invalidate the existence of billionaires because, once more, their wealth tends to be in assets, not cash.

They still exist, it’s just harder to get there. So you’re definitely not “taxing them out of existence “

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brycyclecrash t1_iwrqnv8 wrote

It's also a hypothetical scenario. So in my fantasy all that shit has been worked out.

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Shot-Job-8841 t1_iwr6ytn wrote

I guess you could tax their loans against their equity. If the was a tax whenever they borrowed money they might end up just selling and paying tax.

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