sycasey said:
going4roses said:
https://m.sfgate.com/business/article/The-average-millennial-has-an-average-net-worth-13909188.php
Rising income inequality and the oncoming largest voting age bracket is on the shortest end. Is anyone shocked that socialist ideas are getting more play these days?
This assumes that the millennial will remain in their current income bracket. Once they start making more money with better title, they may continue to talk the talk but the income tax bracket they will blame as not doing enough will also go up just slight above their bracket.
And socialism isn't a new thing. And young people thinking communism or socialism is the answer isn't new either. Many older people, including some of my friends and including me, who are now conservatives were in their youth enamored with the concept of equality in results.
NIMBY (including tax bracket location) is human nature. They may say they want something until they have to give up their possession they really care about. We all know that most people think it is OK to tax the wealth of others as long as the threshold is higher than what would impact them. Even most liberals are not OK with limits on ability to accumulate wealth on their houses or upon their ability to live away from all those they say they want to help. Most CA liberals in the tech industry rage against not taxing wealth until they realize that their stock options are a tax shelter as well.
No one thinks they are the problem. Most people just assume someone else should pay the price and they just get the moral superiority.
I personally hate bigger government and government intrusion because they are often used as a mechanism by covetous people with no intention of making personal sacrifice. Bigger government also takes away the pathway for personal acts of good (I don't view posting on a board as an act of good).
I hated the personal tax cut, while approving of the corporate tax cut (anyone who didn't see the competitive harm in having a higher tax rate than even Europe and the potential for corporate inversion and loss of additional revenues just didn't see the picture). I would argue with some of my more reasonable liberal friends that, because I was against the personal income tax cut, I was OK with limits on SALT deduction. They claim to want more taxes until it impacted them. They hated the SALT deduction limitation. I didn't. The fact that we can afford to pay high property tax means we can do more. I shouldn't be able to pass off some of the cost of living in CA and the corresponding tax that this state imposes on to others who are not fortunate enough to live here. I don't care what the true motivation for imposing the limit was. I cared that it probably was the right result.
I am going to use the same amount of my wealth and income to help the less fortunate no matter what. Whether it's through taxes or through charity, it would not have impacted my bottom line. I just don't think paying the government and funding the coffers controlled by politicians in bed with special interest is the best or even the most efficient way for me to be a steward of money I allocate for the benefit of others.
