this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024
1112 points (98.9% liked)

World News

38500 readers
2651 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Multiple parties are jockeying for position in the aftermath of France's seismic snap election. The leftist New Popular Front (NPF) insists its ideas should be implemented.

France's left wing New Popular Front (NPF) - now the largest group in parliament - has called for a prime minister who will implement its ideas including a new wealth tax and petrol price controls.

The leftist alliance secured the most seats in the recent French elections but fell short of the 289 needed for a majority in the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament.

President Emmanuel Macron's Together bloc came in second and Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party finished third.

France's parties are now jockeying for position and it's unclear exactly how things will shake out, but the NPF has insisted it will implement its radical set of ideas.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] kibiz0r@midwest.social 103 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Honestly, they should probably leave income alone and just double down on the wealth tax.

Wage-based taxation has always been an awkward way to target the rich.

I have very different feelings about someone from a poor background who went into massive debt to develop their skills and become a top earner vs. someone who inherited a fortune and doesn’t put any effort beyond checking their bank balance periodically.

Plus, there is the “won’t they just leave?” argument. Which is mostly FUD, but in the case where someone’s wealth is based on their skilled labor they do have a much easier time just leaving. If your wealth is from owning a portfolio of apartment buildings, good luck taking those with you.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Does no one here understand how incone taxes work? The 90% rate is on annual income over €400,000. Average annual income in France was €41,000.

[–] NounsAndWords@lemmy.world 57 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think the guy you're responding to is more talking about the distinction between income and capital gains, with income making up far less of the wealthy's worth than existing investments.

But yes, a lot of people also have no concept of how tax brackets work.

[–] frezik@midwest.social 10 points 2 months ago

Right. Someone with a networth of many millions may only have a yearly income of $100k. Sometimes far less. Different tax systems can also have different definitions of income. Is inheritance income? Are growth stocks that you haven't cashed in yet income? Are stock dividends income? You can answer yes or no to any of these, but however you answer, you can still structure the tax system around those answers to come to an equitable arrangement.

[–] Dyf_Tfh@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 2 months ago

The end result is that basically no one will be subject to this tax bracket.

It is high enough that everyone at that level will mainly get their real income from stock/loan which aren't salaries.

Having this tax bracket or not having it is, basically the same for the super wealthy. The real method to tax them is through capital tax, not income.

[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The moving part is very real for the ultra rich in Europe.

[–] Urist@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 months ago

In Norway they transfer their assets to their kids and send them to live in Switzerland for them.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah, it's not FUD.

It's really gotta be a 100% tax (that is, a hard cap) or nothing. Wealth that slowly whittles away will tend to move elsewhere.

[–] Zeratul@lemmus.org 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I see fud used on a semi regular basis. It's fear uncertainty and doubt. And I don't think most people know that.

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I wasn't sure, but I was worried that's what it was

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Wage-based taxation has always been an awkward way to target the rich.

Is it wages or is it income? Income covers much more than wages, and in a good system one would account for everything without loopholes. A comprehensive income tax that catches everything would go pretty far.

Wealth tax can be dicey, in theory. It would require a sell-off to actually have money that can be used to pay taxes, and the sell-off would change the value of the assets. For example, the S&P 500 is "worth" 46 billion dollars. That's more than twice the "money" that exists total, it's literally impossible to actually manifest all of that to dollars, so most of the "worth" cannot be "realized".

[–] bitflag@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

If your wealth is from owning a portfolio of apartment buildings, good luck taking those with you.

Sell it to a holding company incorporated abroad. Own shares of that holding company instead.

[–] uis@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

but in the case where someone’s wealth is based on their skilled labor they do have a much easier time just leaving. If your wealth is from owning a portfolio of apartment buildings, good luck taking those with you.

Nice one