Comments on: Friday Talking Points -- Shutdown Follies

By: C. R. Stucki

C. R. Stucki — Sun, 01 Oct 2023 00:42:17 +0000

Poet

Actually in normal accounting terminology, capital gains definitely is "classified as income" (and taxed), but the main problem, and what most people forget, is, it only becomes capital gains when it (the appreciated shares of stock) is sold. If the guy (Musk, Bezos, etc.) just sits on his sky-high stock, it isn't even capital gains!

By: nypoet22

nypoet22 — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 23:32:49 +0000

at least in theory, corporations themselves probably shouldn't be taxed at all. but as long as the SCOTUS continues to insanely grant them the first amendment rights associated with personhood, they should also be subject to government taxation based on the sixteenth, as should each of their investors. "capital gains" is a dumbass compromise tax that benefits nobody.

{/rant}
JL

By: nypoet22

nypoet22 — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 17:20:00 +0000

I know capital gains isn't classified as income, but that doesn't necessarily mean it oughtn't be. One rationale for that classification is that corporate income is taxed already, so it oughtn't be taxed as income twice. I'm honestly not sure where I land on that question, but the system certainly could stand to become more equitable than it is currently.

By: C. R. Stucki

C. R. Stucki — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 15:57:30 +0000

Oxidized Italian [4]

Re "A series of stories showing many of them (wealthy people) paid little or nothing in taxes."

There is no tax on wealth. We only tax income, and being wealthy does not automatically imply current income. I suppose it's a fact that most wealthy people do normally have income, but that's not invariable nor inevitable. We scream and rend our garments when the price of the stock in the companies highly productive people create shoots thru the roof making them gazillionaires, but believe it or not, that's not considered income in our system.

By: italyrusty

italyrusty — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 08:24:58 +0000

Diane Feinstein, 1933 - 2023
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/29/dianne-feinstein-senator-mayor-00006007

By: italyrusty

italyrusty — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 07:58:13 +0000

I have no idea of his political leanings, but we'll assume he's a Democrat, thus deserving of at least an honorable mention for MIDOW (or perhaps a new award for "courage in public service"?)

NB: Why are IRS declarations NOT public records, except to hide information about the ultra-wealthy from the other 99%?
'...ProPublica said it had obtained a massive trove of information about the taxes and incomes of wealthy people, many of them well known, going back some 15 years. It published a series of stories showing many of them paid little or nothing in taxes.'
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/29/irs-leak-charge-00119190

By: italyrusty

italyrusty — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 07:48:04 +0000

I pay little attention to New York City politics, but the articles I've seen about the mayor paint him as less-than-welcoming to immigrants. He certainly deserves a MDDOW this week:
'The inundation – which has left huge swaths of the city swamped, closed roads and rendered several subway lines inoperable – came a day after the city’s mayor, Eric Adams, said he believed migrants should be excluded from New York’s right-to-shelter mandate. The mandate requires the city to provide shelter beds to anyone in need of them.

On a Thursday appearance on WABC’s Sid & Friends In the Morning talkshow, Adams said: “I don’t believe the right to shelter applies to a migrant crisis.”'
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/29/new-york-flooding-mayor-eric-adams-migrants-homeless-people

By: italyrusty

italyrusty — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 07:27:57 +0000

"Kevin McCarthy (R-Jellyfish)" - LOL

By: andygaus

andygaus — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 02:26:34 +0000

And somehow Republicans hope to blame the shutdown on Biden? Any idea how that will go? "Biden wasn't willing to consider the reasonable proposals we put before him. Oh right, we didn't get that far."