TheBigUnit

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@AwakenWithJP China is pressing ahead with them. How will that work out?

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

Capital gains are part of total income. They are, however, taxed differently than basic income. I see your argument now that you are just upset because you believe that Cuban is calling for tax increases that may not affect him in the way it affects you. That may be true but it depends on his basic income vs his capital gains income. I do not know how those percentages break down for him (or you).

However, the rules of the game are the same. The results are often different. My original post was referencing the 'not available to rest of us' which I took as commentary on availability of access to capital gains as income vs only having basic income - which would not be true.
We have that option - if we invest.

Cuban may be lobbying for others to be taxed higher on basic income that he may not have to deal with (again, I don't know his basic income to capital gains income ratio). But, without his tax returns, who can be sure?

For the record, I don't feel any of the high earners should pay more in taxes - they pay enough and raising them will not cover our current spending spree.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

But the rich ARE subject to income tax increase - once the income is realized.

Another note : the house analogy does not fall apart just because you pay property tax on a value that includes appreciation. The home example was referencing income tax on appreciated property value, not property tax on appreciated property value.

The difference being, the average property tax on homes is close 1%. The income tax on that appreciated amount would be many times higher. So the two arguments are very different in nature.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

I am not a top earner and I invest - it just takes a little budgeting.

The top earners already fund the country. Take 5 to look it up - this can quickly be verified. They pay tax when they sell ownership.

You can't tax imaginary gains - that is nonsensical. That "growth" is an imaginary value - unless it is realized at that value.

Understand that forcing an investor to sell at specific value means that the stock value (value of the company) will then drop. This will lead to lay offs and worse.

Example: A tax assessor shows up at your $150,000 house and tells you it is now worth $300,000 due to market "value" increase. Now, he tells you that you owe taxes on that unrealized $150,000 gain. You obviously do not have the $150,000 yet because you have not sold the house at the $300,000 market value - in fact, you didn't even intend to sell it. But now you must sell it to pay tax on the "$150,000" gain. Now, who would buy a house?

Taxing unrealized gains would destroy the economy and there will be no more "wealth" to tax and unemployment would spike in a serious way. Then what? With such risks, who is going to invest in new start up companies to hire the unemployed?

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@GBNT1952 And, Darwinism has been unable to keep pace.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@EdMarkey Medicare for all - we can't afford it.
Tax the rich: The top 10% already pay 70% of the federal income tax. The bottom half pay nothing...
Abolish ICE: How will immigration be enforced?

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@BernieSanders Spending money on "other than Americans" bothers you? That is news to the entire country.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@StefanT78 @mcuban I don't disagree with any of that. I merely meant to lay out the context for why tax revenue is not the problem - spending is.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@mcuban Cut spending - we can't tax enough to cover spending. This is not debatable.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

Democrat Socialists do not understand economics. They are obviously not informed on federal income tax revenue and who pays it.

A starter for you and the DSA: The top 1% of earners ALREADY account for almost 40% of the federal income tax revenue. The top 10% of earners paid 70% of the federal income tax. You could take all of their "wealth" and not be able to fund "Medicare for all".

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

I wonder if they used some of that money recovered from the "Learing Center" ...

[Rep. Ilhan Omar @Ilhan]

The House just voted on a government funding bill to give MORE money to ICE.

We cannot give another dime to this rogue agency that continues to terrorize our communities.

Voted NO.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@shy2gal @BernieSanders Your argument would be better supported by answering the 2 questions posed to Bernie.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@RNCResearch He is a typical politician - either intentionally deceitful or economically illiterate - or both.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@josh267267 @mcuban No amount of taxation or wealth confiscation will cover the tab created by our current spending levels -they are unsustainable.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

Half of all earner households already pay nothing in net federal income tax. The country is being funded by high earners (97% of federal income tax revenue is paid by the top 25% of earners). The next 25% earners below them account for the other 3%.
In agreement with you, and the above data, Uncle Sam has a spending problem that can't be fixed with taxes.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@jvbonaiii @mcuban "Can never do the same" - ficticious problem. The only thing stopping high wage earners from investing and gaining access to long-term capital gains tax rates is... the high wage earners themselves.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

You make a good point - while at the same time suggesting that tax increase will make things ok.

Tax revenue is not the problem.

SPENDING is the problem. You know how long the government could be funded if you and every other billionaire gave y'all's entire respective wealths to the government. It would likely be less than years- and then what?

Where would the funding come from? The millionaires? Then? What about all the job losses that follow?

Raising taxes will not stop that train, and you know it. Speaking the truth is badly needed -especially from from folks like yourself that have so much reach.

The government needs to stop promising things that can't be paid for.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

@BernieSanders Tell the full story, Bern.

[TheBigUnit @TheBigHank]

"Big Tech...Oligarchs"...you have worn the souls of those buzzwords paper thin, Bernie. Your goal is to create class warfare and sucker all of the young, uninformed, and unaware voters into voting for your nonsense before they realize just how bad your ideas really are. You are incredibly dishonest - not surprising coming from a life long politician.