this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2025
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The problem with taxing the super rich is that their weath isn't in the form of taxable income, it's mostly in the form of stock, and doesn't become cash until it is sold. Selling stock, especially if the CEO is the selling lots of stock, causes the value of the stock to decrease, so they don't like to sell it at all. What billionaires do to pay for their day to day expenses is to take out loans, using their stock as collateral on that loan. No bank is going to deny a loan backed by Tesla stock, or space-x stock.. that's guaranteed interest for them with basically no risk. The value of the stock them increases over time, more than the interest payments do, and then they pay it back, coming out financially better than they were when they took out the loan. The only way that billionaires could really be taxed is if the government was to tax them on the value of all stock that is held at the start of the tax year, and not just when it is sold. Some countries do this, I don't think (?) the USA does.