The Left has successfully created class conflict in the United States in order to gain and retain power. Warren and her ilk are just out for power, the individuals I feel animus towards are those that put them in office.
With this post, I’m introducing a new feature: Stark Outtakes and Extras. As a journalist, I often find the editing process leaves me with interesting material that doesn’t quite fit the flow of the story. Substack’s comment section gives me an opportunity to share them, and share some extra thoughts.
First, some extra thoughts from Dominic Frisby, the author of “Daylight Robbery: How Tax Shaped Our Past and Will Change Our Future.”
Speaking of wealth taxes he said, “A lot of taxes sound very simple in principle…but they’re actually much harder to execute in practice...A wealth tax relies on the honest and accurate disclosure of the wealthy. And one of the reasons they’ve got wealthy in the first place is not paying the same level of taxes as the middle class. As soon as there gets to be wind of a wealth tax, it’s likely the wealthy will rearrange their affairs in such way as to be immune to the tax.”
Recognizing the complexity of assigning a valuation to tricky assets like closely-held businesses and art, Warren’s proposal includes a large increase in the IRS enforcement budget, and incorporates a goal of auditing a hefty 30% of the “ultra-millionaires” each year.
Frisby doesn’t think the Ultra-Millionaire Tax will fly, and implies Warren may not be sincere in offering it: “Americans with a net worth of $50 million-plus don’t need to worry that much, because wealth taxes are often proposed for the purpose of political point-scoring and to gain popularity and to virtue-signal and so on.”
He also shared many interesting tales from tax history, including an annual British tax on fireplaces that was succeeded by a tax on windows. As is typically the case, each brought some severe unintended consequences. His book sounds interesting and entertaining.
Extra Stat: Using Truth in Accounting’s estimate of $113 trillion in total federal liabilities, each American taxpayer would have to pay $737,000 to cover it all.
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An article by Robert Higgs at the Foundation for Economic Education includes this quote from famed economist Milton Friedman, who was a young Treasury department staffer when employer tax withholding was implemented: “At the time, we concentrated single-mindedly on promoting the war effort. We gave next to no consideration to any longer-run consequences. It never occurred to me at the time that I was helping to develop machinery that would make possible a government that I would come to criticize severely as too large, too intrusive, too destructive of freedom. Yet, that was precisely what I was doing.”
The Left has successfully created class conflict in the United States in order to gain and retain power. Warren and her ilk are just out for power, the individuals I feel animus towards are those that put them in office.
With this post, I’m introducing a new feature: Stark Outtakes and Extras. As a journalist, I often find the editing process leaves me with interesting material that doesn’t quite fit the flow of the story. Substack’s comment section gives me an opportunity to share them, and share some extra thoughts.
First, some extra thoughts from Dominic Frisby, the author of “Daylight Robbery: How Tax Shaped Our Past and Will Change Our Future.”
Speaking of wealth taxes he said, “A lot of taxes sound very simple in principle…but they’re actually much harder to execute in practice...A wealth tax relies on the honest and accurate disclosure of the wealthy. And one of the reasons they’ve got wealthy in the first place is not paying the same level of taxes as the middle class. As soon as there gets to be wind of a wealth tax, it’s likely the wealthy will rearrange their affairs in such way as to be immune to the tax.”
Recognizing the complexity of assigning a valuation to tricky assets like closely-held businesses and art, Warren’s proposal includes a large increase in the IRS enforcement budget, and incorporates a goal of auditing a hefty 30% of the “ultra-millionaires” each year.
Frisby doesn’t think the Ultra-Millionaire Tax will fly, and implies Warren may not be sincere in offering it: “Americans with a net worth of $50 million-plus don’t need to worry that much, because wealth taxes are often proposed for the purpose of political point-scoring and to gain popularity and to virtue-signal and so on.”
He also shared many interesting tales from tax history, including an annual British tax on fireplaces that was succeeded by a tax on windows. As is typically the case, each brought some severe unintended consequences. His book sounds interesting and entertaining.
https://www.amazon.com/Daylight-Robbery-Title-Dominic-Frisby/dp/0241360838
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Extra Stat: Using Truth in Accounting’s estimate of $113 trillion in total federal liabilities, each American taxpayer would have to pay $737,000 to cover it all.
--
An article by Robert Higgs at the Foundation for Economic Education includes this quote from famed economist Milton Friedman, who was a young Treasury department staffer when employer tax withholding was implemented: “At the time, we concentrated single-mindedly on promoting the war effort. We gave next to no consideration to any longer-run consequences. It never occurred to me at the time that I was helping to develop machinery that would make possible a government that I would come to criticize severely as too large, too intrusive, too destructive of freedom. Yet, that was precisely what I was doing.”