Are these plastic sheets just to guarantee that if one person in there has covid, they all get covid?
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VAT + huge UBI does seem great in theory but I think there is a reasonable fear thatâd weâd get the regressive side of both and neither of the good parts. Itâd end up as a huge tax on daily essentials and a means tested tax credit based ubi that doesnât serve anyone in need.
Yeah itâs not UBI if itâs means tested. If thereâs one thing we need less of in the world itâs gatekeeping government benefits. Benefits everyone uses tend to be popular.
Exempt the essentials like food and clothing from VAT, tax the shit out of things like cars and building materials where the wealthy spend exponentially more than everybody else.
Thatâs probably more of a national sales tax than a VAT but whatever.
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The Scandi countries have a weird setup where they have a VAT thatâs rigged to be less regressive, loads of benefits, and less overall income disparity. The middle class still winds up getting soaked relative to the US, but people are okay with that if they get stuff like cheap healthcare and education.
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Itâs important to note that no one anywhere has a problem paying for things that are objectively worth it. The biggest reason the us government is so unpopular is that what it charges for what it provides the median citizen very much isnât worth it.
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I dont think thatâs right, the government undoubtedly wastes a lot of money, mostly on foreign wars, but an even bigger factor is that the government spends literally zero time on public relations to remind people that they rely on things every single day that only the government has succeeded to deliver effectively. Iâm even old enough to remember when the privatized energy system in the whole state of Texas collapsed because if one cold spell.
You wouldnât be able to import Scandi style taxes into the US system and expect a positive reaction from the public, because theyâve been inculcated with the ideas of the cult of the individual and worship of money from an early age.
Most Americans are highly irrational.
More of this, please (Times Square)
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It seems that shitlibs are happy with Bidenâs tax rises as theyâre pitched at $400k+.
It could be that theyâre mainly motivated by not paying more tax themselves. And not paying more tax, of course, is the de facto test for conservatives around the world.
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Iâm not in the US so none of this applies to me, but Iâm generally in favor of these âtop endâ tax hikes because the current system allows the top end too many tax breaks. This is true in Canada as well. I am under the $400k band, but I dont object to paying increased taxes. I do think its fair to demand the people over $400k pay more first. Although the $400k level is kind of a misdirection IMO, people with hundreds of millions or more in wealth should really be the targets. They acquired all that wealth in a rigged game.
Wanting to soak the rich is not usually seen as a conservative idea.
Someone earning a little under $400k pa isnât rich?
I donât know and cba to see how earnings break down there but in the last GE here Labour proposed tax rises for the top 5% of earners only, which would have kicked in at ÂŁ150k and was quite moderate.
Man the Biden team was really fucking stupid getting this idea of $400k per person out there then âclarifyingâ that itâs actually $200k.
Thatâs commie Euroland. Any kind of tax on any of the rich over here is revolutionary.
Compared to the billionaire class, no. Not even close.
And compared to the median wage?
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Yes, of course. Not sure what your point is.
Tax those motherfuckers is his point, I believe.
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No argument from me.
But on the scale of âmotherfuckersâ, people making $450k or whatever arenât anywhere near the scale of the people making tens of millions.