General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Note To Bloomberg: Like A Lot Of People, I Own A House. And Every Year I Have To Pay... [View all]Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)With all that exra time he has on his hands?
A tax on stocks that one creates is unfair, IMO. It is not like a stock that someone GIVES you in payment of your work for the company.
But for the creator, the business would not exist, or the stock. There is no way to value that. The increase in its value is because of the work done by the owner. It's not like buying a stock that then increases in value. If I own a stock I bought, I had nothing to do with increasing or decreasing its value.
I think some people don't understand how business works. And we certainly don't want to follow the Middle East as regards to anything.
What will happen is what has happened in a smaller way, currently: They'll start their business in another country and do what they can not to pay the tax. Like they do in Great Britain...the mega wealthy own their biggest homes outside of the country, and run their businesses from out of the country.
What they can also do is lessen their philanthropy. I read that Bloomberg gave $5 Billion to the gun control effort. He could simply pay his tax bill out of that, lessening the philanthropy but keeping his costs the same.
I'm okay with a wealth tax, but it IS complicated. Maybe a tax on INHERITED property for someone whose income is over a certain amount. Income is easier to determine than wealth.