Wiseacre
Retired USAF Chief
Many on the left, including Warren Buffet in a recent NY Times op-ed, believe that tax hikes on the top 1% will not hurt the economy. Consider the following:
snippet:
" The year after former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown introduced a 50 percent top income tax rate, the number of people filing as millionaires dropped 63 percent, from 16,000 to 6,000. Tax revenue also declined by nearly £7 billion.
No single reason explains the drop. Some millionaires probably earned less money due to the slow-growing European economy, or they may have simply worked less. Others may have shifted the timing of their income or moved it to less-taxed forms. Still others might have physically left the country. "
Whatever the reason, the result is the same - many of the most productive people who are in the best position to invest or startup new businesses will not do so. Some left, some didn't, either way the British economy is suffering as a result. And we're seeing the same thing in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, etc. I'm not saying it's just the taxes, there are other reasons; but if you want economic growth and more jobs, raising taxes ain't the way to do it.
The current tax hikes that will be effective on the first of January amount to over $500 billion dollars; more if you add in tax increases at state and local levels. I don't know how anyone can expect to hammer people that hard without consequences. I've said in many times, money flows to where it gets the most return for lower risk. For a lot of people, that place isn't going to be the USA. And that's not just Americans who won't invest here at hme, it's also foreign investors who won't invest here either.
Warren Buffett Wrong on Tax Increases, British Millionaires Prove
snippet:
" The year after former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown introduced a 50 percent top income tax rate, the number of people filing as millionaires dropped 63 percent, from 16,000 to 6,000. Tax revenue also declined by nearly £7 billion.
No single reason explains the drop. Some millionaires probably earned less money due to the slow-growing European economy, or they may have simply worked less. Others may have shifted the timing of their income or moved it to less-taxed forms. Still others might have physically left the country. "
Whatever the reason, the result is the same - many of the most productive people who are in the best position to invest or startup new businesses will not do so. Some left, some didn't, either way the British economy is suffering as a result. And we're seeing the same thing in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, etc. I'm not saying it's just the taxes, there are other reasons; but if you want economic growth and more jobs, raising taxes ain't the way to do it.
The current tax hikes that will be effective on the first of January amount to over $500 billion dollars; more if you add in tax increases at state and local levels. I don't know how anyone can expect to hammer people that hard without consequences. I've said in many times, money flows to where it gets the most return for lower risk. For a lot of people, that place isn't going to be the USA. And that's not just Americans who won't invest here at hme, it's also foreign investors who won't invest here either.
Warren Buffett Wrong on Tax Increases, British Millionaires Prove