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by JohnMakin 818 days ago
>You have capital gains tax on it eventually,

Erm... no. That's how people imagine it's supposed to work, but in reality, the wealthy fund their consumption from loans using their wealth as collateral, enjoying the benefit of their wealth while avoiding capital gains taxes. Warren Buffet has famously criticized this, it's not some unheard of thing. There are many, many loopholes and they are very much there on purpose.

2 comments

Certainly, I'm talking about the middle class that are not afforded such opportunities. The rich can not only often dodge such taxes but can benefit more easily from government largess.
That’s how some wealthy people fund their lifestyles.

Take a look at SEC filings, and you’ll see a massive amount of stock sales and capital gains taxes getting paid every day.

some people are the people in question here. This discussion started as a conversation about a wealth tax and “capital gains” is mentioned. The wealthy largely do not pay a proportionate amount of this tax. Additionally, you will see “massive amounts” of anything in an economy as large as the united states. Capital gains tax is not a very big percentage of US taxes collected, and the taxes that are collected are mostly shouldered by people who are not wealthy. So, in the context of this discussion, I’m not sure what your point is. some people pay capital gains tax. My point wasn’t that no one does.