Universal Basic Income

[videogamesrock]

milelol:

Letting the .gov take less money than they want, using legal methods, is all game.

And for effs sake, keeping YOUR money is COMPLETELY different than taking OTHER PEOPLES money. Holy hell, how is that even something that needs said. Are you kidding me.

But then again, we almost had a witch get elected.

The government is a poor steward of your money.

[icampy]

The government is a poor steward of your money.

No one seems to understand that . Well, lots do, but lots don't .

[sanantone]

Some of you have never heard of corporate welfare and lobbying. Where do you think the money comes from when the government gives money to large businesses? While paying as little taxes as possible is legal, the wealthy and corporations are taking from others when they pay little to no taxes. Obviously, there are wealthy people who pay a lot in taxes, but there are also those who don't.

The roads that you drive on aren't free. The utility infrastructure that you use isn't free. There have been businesses and wealthy individuals caught defrauding people. Wealthy people aren't completely innocent.

Anyway, Kansas experimented with trickle down economics giving huge tax breaks that mostly benefitted the wealthy and businesses and cut government programs. It turned out to be a disaster, and Kansans ended up replacing conservative Republicans in the legislature with moderate Republicans and Democrats who ended up repealing the tax cuts.

[videogamesrock]

Corporations should pay zero in taxes. I'm against corporate welfare and all forms of subsidies. If you have figured out a way to pay zero good for you.

[videogamesrock]

A good article on poor people. I Spent 5 Years Studying Poor People and Here Are 4 Destructive Money Habits They Had - Rich Habits Institute

[sanantone]

A good article on poor people. I Spent 5 Years Studying Poor People and Here Are 4 Destructive Money Habits They Had - Rich Habits Institute

What this article points to is what's been known by social scientists for decades. Children learn money management and wealth-building habits mostly from their family. Why don't you volunteer and give free personal finance classes to poor children?

[videogamesrock]

What this article points to is what's been known by social scientists for decades. Children learn money management and wealth-building habits mostly from their family. Why don't you volunteer and give free personal finance classes to poor children?

I educate people almost daily on real estate investing. What I've noticed is that people really don't want to make sacrifices and are more concerned about instant gratification.

[sanantone]

I educate people almost daily on real estate investing. What I've noticed isn't people really don't want to make sacrifices and are more concerned about instant gratification.

Well, your methods are out of the norm. I can't remember if you've received grant money, which is taking from others, but I do remember your plan to use student loans to buy houses. Are any of those loans subsidized?

[sarg123]

Obviously, there are wealthy people who pay a lot in taxes, but there are also those who don't.

I just did a report on Berkshire Hathaway for my Corporate Finance class. My understanding was that Warren Buffet, who at one point was THE richest man in America, pays almost no taxes. I didn't check the others on the list, but I'm sure they have all the top accountants and lawyers making sure that they pay as little taxes as possible. Who's fault is this?

I came across this quote when I was taking Taxes I -

"Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes anypublic duty to pay more than the law demands."-Judge Learned Hand, Helvering v. Gregory, 69 F.2d 809, 810 (2d Cir. 1934), aff'd, 293 U.S. 465 (1935)

So who is at fault here? If people are trying to keep more of their money, and not hand it to the government, that is their complete right. But who wrote all these laws that allow rich people to pay almost no taxes? As a side note, why is home equity loan interest deductible, but my credit card loan interest is not deductible? There is no question that the tax law favors the rich, probably because rich people are writing it.

I think that the problems here are extremely complex, and there are no simple answers - cut taxes, raise taxes - these solutions are all meaningless on their own, without a broader plan of how to implement it. For example, in the Kansas experiment you cited, they cut education - that can't be acceptable.

The government needs taxes to pay for the school system, they also need taxes to maintain infrastructure. I also happen to agree, and I think that almost everyone really agrees, that the government should provide a safety net for those who need it. But the government also wastes a lot of money, really they do. And everyone keeps talking about the high corporate tax rate, but honestly, how many companies are actually paying this? They all take a million deductions in every possible way, shape, and form.

So the end result is that everyone gets out of taxes, and the government keeps borrowing more and more money to pay for it all, and at some point it's just going to blow up in our faces. I feel sorry for my children, because it is them who will actually be paying for all this, whether for real, or in super inflation (when the government just keeps printing money to pay all their obligations).

[sarg123]

Some of you have never heard of corporate welfare and lobbying.

A lot of corporate welfare starts off with good intentions. There are lots of examples, I wish I had the time to do the research on this, but I don't. I do remember hearing that at some point the government was paying farmers a certain amount of subsidies for planting specific crops, probably they are still paying. It was probably meant for the small farmers (so sad, going to lose land that they was in the family for generations), but who do you think got the biggest piece of the pie? Whenever there's money, there's always the big corporations lurking just around the corner, and they get it first.

Same with the mortgage crisis in 2008. The government was pushing banks to give loans to poor people - backed by Freddie Mac and Sallie Mae. The banks were quick to jump on the bandwagon - these mortgages were guaranteed by Uncle Sam! So they pushed mortgages on people who really couldn't afford them, and voila! A mortgage crisis. Banks are not dumb. They were not giving mortgages that would not get paid, they were expecting to get paid - if not by the mortgagee, then for sure by Uncle Sam.

Not to mention all the corporate welfare given to all those green companies in recent years, where they took tons of money to develop... nothing. Also, good intentions - but who got the money? The wealthy, of course.

These are just some of the things I can think of off the top of my head, I know I am a bit fuzzy about the details, but I know for sure there a lot more examples, like I said, I wish I had the time to research all of this.