[wppick]

Also upwards accumulation of wealth can sometimes mean less tax revenue. Middle class salary workers pay a lot of tax, so with more upwards accumulation of wealth (maybe accelerating due to AI) then what will happen to tax revenue? People getting laid off don't pay tax, and shifting that money to corporate, tax havens, and cap gains types of taxes will probably end up lower overall

[SoftTalker]

> Middle class salary workers pay a lot of tax

No they don't. If we're talking about federal income tax, the vast majority of is paid by the wealthy.

[phil21]

You are correct. But you are commenting in a place where mid six figure engineers consider themselves middle class and not wealthy.

Yes, the top 20% pay the vast majority of taxes and are taxed at the highest rate until you get into the ownership classes where income goes down and capital gains goes up. Plus that’s when all the tax deferral strategies come into play.

And yes, by all reasonable definitions if you are in the top 20% either income or wealth you are categorically wealthy.

[wppick]

All tax. Income tax, payroll tax, consumption tax

[SideQuark]

Corp income tax (paid by shareholders from the rich to teacher pensions to anyone with a retirement account...), estate tax,...

When all is accounted for ... The rich still pay a far larger share than the income they earn. It's why OECD rates the US as the most progressive tax system among member nations.

[codingrightnow]

True or not that the wealthy pay a greater share of their money in taxes, it doesn't matter. The money has to come from somewhere and the middle and lower classes can't afford it. Also the middle class can't pay more and continue buying the super wealthy's goods. We need to spend less and tax more. 1 trillion in interest per year is insane.

[throwawayqqq11]

... which implies these taxes get actually payed. At least in the same proportions as lower income taxes get payed.

There is no effective taxation when avoidance is easy and risk-free.

[phil21]

They are talking about the final numbers at the end of the day. Effective tax rates.

It’s the same no matter if you want to use effective vs nominal. The numbers change, but relatively speaking they are roughly the same.

[kccoder]

Property tax, sales tax, tariffs, ...

[fakedang]

Funny how you all rebelled in the good old days over a tax of 3 pence per pound of tea.

[wqaatwt]

IIRC it was mainly about the government giving the East India Company a monopoly on all tea imports sidelining local merchants in Boston.

The tax was used to rile up the mobs by merchants/smugglers, because the monopoly tea was actually cheaper than what they could ship from Holland.