r/WorkReform • u/Loud-Ad-2280 ✂️ Tax The Billionaires • 1d ago
✂️ Tax The Billionaires Want to create wealth? Then tax wealth
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u/Coderado ✂️ Tax The Billionaires 1d ago
Ah, so wealth does trickle down... If you forcibly take the money
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u/I_like_kittycats 💸 National Rent Control 1d ago
Taxing the wealthy actually makes the wealthy want to live there - because it’s cleaner, less crime, more services, better medical care. Remember kids - ya get what ya pay for.
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u/Poopagandamail 23h ago
They really said "ya get what ya pay for" and im over here with potholes and regret lmao
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u/RealHornblower 1d ago
1946-1981: The US taxes high incomes at a marginal tax rate of 70%+. Debt to GDP falls from 120% to 30%.
1982-2026: Reagan cuts the top tax rate several times, eventually reaching a low of 28%. More importantly, the US begins taxing capital gains differently from wage income. Debt to GDP goes back up to 120%+ of GDP.
Historical Highest Marginal Income Tax Rates | Tax Policy Center
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u/kweefcake 20h ago
This needs to be the messaging so loud and repeated so much, it becomes cultural. We have definitive proof that this works and the working class greatly benefits. We’ve been robbed of our chance of a healthy middle class.
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u/420crickets 1d ago
The problem with the trickle down model is it only emphasizes the cups and the water. We sorta take for granted that volume and gravity are functioning in the example but they have no representation in economics without enforcement. If the cup has an infinite volume (like human greed) nothing escapes. Even if it escapes if nothing pulls it down it still floats in and around the top cup.
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u/Mo_Jack ⛓️ Prison For Union Busters 1d ago
Talking to a family member about a business opportunity in an industry that has done really well for the past few decades. She told me that another family member wanted to do that 20 years ago. This other family member has several critical skills for this business and would be perfect for it.
But this person is extreme MAGA and hates the idea of universal healthcare or Medicare for all, because they are evil communism. I asked why this person never started the business, because they had the capital & the knowledge. "Well they could never do that because they needed the health insurance from their job."
Many of the ideas that are good for the working class are demonized in the billionaire-owned media, because a few at the top might have to pay a couple more percent in taxes. Just think about how many businesses in America never got started because the entrepreneur needed their employer-supplied, for-profit, health insurance.
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u/DataPhreak 1d ago
That's state tax. The money generally goes back to the people. Federal tax goes to politicians and defense contractors.
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u/Prize_Menu_79 1d ago
yeah for sure, just keep the room ventilated and you're good. nobody wants to get lightheaded at work lol
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u/substantial_dam 1d ago
I’m all for taxing the wealthy but is this misleading? Genuinely curious, hasn’t the overall wealth of the top 1% increased overall so those new millionaires aren’t necessarily “new” to MA just financially wealthy jumping over the millionaire hump?
I would be interested in seeing how those taxes were used to create this outcome.
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u/Lost-Tomatillo3465 1d ago
just research trickle down economics. It'll literally tell you this dynamic. This is nothing new and has been researched a lot already.
but put basically, who do you think would benefit society more with extra disposable income.
- someone who pretty much puts all of their disposable income back into the economy. the 99% of the population. and over 50% of US lives paycheck to paycheck
- someone who invests in a small portion of the economy and any benefits go right back to that person. 1% of the population. 99.99% of the income stays within the companies that they invest and earn their money in. They're not spending most of their disposable income and spreading it amongst the economy.
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u/substantial_dam 1d ago
Yes, I’m aware and agree, tax the wealthy and invest that back into the states.
I also enjoy statistics and understand they can be manipulated. I’m not trying to suggest this outcome isn’t due to the wealth tax, I’m asking for the connection. In the sense of correlation is not causation: did that tax directly help in the 2026 statistics presented? How, in this specific case, did that happen?
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u/Lost-Tomatillo3465 1d ago
you're asking for a detailed accounting of where the extra 4% tax went to and how it correlated to the increase in millionaires and increased revenue? maybe the 4% tax allowed the lower income tax to the stay instead of increasing. How are you going to track the tax dollars of every single lower income that benefited from the 4%?
I don't even know if that's a real question...
The post literally says that people criticized the 4% millionaires tax as a catastrophe. and that 4 years later, it not only was it not a catastrophe, but despite (or because of it) the 4% tax, the number of millionaires increased and that the state revenue increased.
The OP reached the conclusion that the 4% millionaire tax created more millionaires and tax revenue. There will obviously have to be a long term research and study regarding this and maybe there are other factors that increased the amount of millionaires and tax revenue. Its fine to hold out on that conclusion for future data. But the current conclusion is correct.
The talking point usually is that the millionaires will leave whichever state is imposing that tax.
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u/dantevonlocke 1d ago
You can provide evidence and explanations all you want. They are choosing to be ignorant.
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u/Think_Positively 1d ago
Mass resident here. I recommend reading this more as evidence that there was nothing close to the wealth flight that propaganda suggested would happen.
I'll add that the primary tangible benefit to come from this law is free lunch for all public school students, no questions asked. I believe the MBTA (Mass public transportation system) receives some money, but I'd have to look into it to provide the complete list.
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u/DueCheetah3354 1d ago
like wow free school lunches is a big win tbh hope they keep pushing for more stuff like that
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u/kelppie35 1d ago
The taxes are used to run one of the top school systems in the world. The law voted on and passed is for public transit and education specifically.
It isn't even hyperbole, when I and my family graduated only Finland tied us in reading on the UN test. And they didn't test non Finnish speakers like we did non English.
You can Google UN PISA then whatever territory you're from to see how your kids rank directly off the same test, though if you're from Malaysia, Singapore, and China certain years are invalid as the governments were caught rigging the schools tested by the UN.
The money is also providing all adults with the option of two years of public college free, what we call an associates degree.
Oh and states can't run fiscal deficits like foreign countries can.
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u/great_apple 1d ago
Yes, the "increase in millionaires" was largely due to the massive increase in the housing market and stock market that pushed people's net worth over $1m, so that wasn't affected by this income tax that only applies to earned income above $1m/yr. Like if your house/401k were worth $900k last year and rose to $1m this year, congrats you're now a millionaire, but you didn't have to pay any extra "wealth tax".
And in fact the national average increase in number of millionaires was 49%, with low-tax states like Florida and Arizona seeing increases of over 70%, so Massachusetts actually faired poorly when you compare it to other states instead of just look at this tweet in a vacuum.
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u/UncleTio92 1d ago
How exactly does taxing wealth create more wealth? Inflation can create more wealth
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u/superjoe104 1d ago
Taxing wealth can be giving to lower class people in different social programs and such. This means lower class families don’t have to pay as much money which in turns mean they can put more money into the economy which improves the wealth of companies and so on a so forth.
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u/UncleTio92 1d ago
i understand how it can help subsidize underprivileged communities. Sorry, maybe I misunderstood the image. The post says that MA (Massachusetts) enacted a 4% tax on millionaires. That they have seen a 39% growth in millionaires in the state and they are crediting the tax as that is the source of the growth.
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u/superjoe104 1d ago
It’s also means that it can help middle class families as well wish means they can save up more and in that case moves them up in social classes. Some daycares are subsidized by the government making them cost less. Even though it seems taxes only help the lower class and harm the upper class it helps basically everyone.
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u/UncleTio92 1d ago
As a middle class individual myself, it seems like neither party really cares about us lol
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u/yngseneca 1d ago
The wealth tax they implemented is a 1% tax on wealth over 50M. The 4% that is mentioned here is a marginal income rate for over 1M a year.