@Strandjunker Tax everyone, why "the rich" ? The problem is that "the rich" is too vague, to ambiguous of a term, where do we set the threshold ?

Make it just, make it correct, so that everyone can get behind the idea !

Tax everyone, a just and fair percentage, and that way, nobody can complain they are taxed too much, or more than the next person. Only way to get everyone to agree !

@prolamerdude @potpie @Strandjunker

Er... no.

@prolamerdude @pete @potpie @Strandjunker because if you're taxing everyone 50%, then rich people are still stupidly rich, meanwhile poor people are starving

yay!

@prolamerdude @drazraeltod @potpie @Strandjunker

Er... no.

@prolamerdude @drazraeltod @potpie @Strandjunker
I've replied more than just "Er... no".

If someone earns just over €1,000, every extra €100 they earn, they will lose €25. This is 2.27% of their total income.

If someone earns €1,000,000, every extra €100 they earn, they will lose €25. This is 0.003% of their total income.

This is not fair.

@pete @drazraeltod @potpie @Strandjunker I know, but what I meant is that the last 2 replies were "Er... no." so my comment was about that.

You say it's not fair because of the way you presented the numbers.

But the person earning 1.000.000€ already pays 249.750€ in taxes, based on my example, which is 9990 times more taxes than 25€.

So an unreasonable person that would be on the polar opposite side of your political views, would simply say that is unfair. You see what I mean ?

@prolamerdude @drazraeltod @potpie @Strandjunker

I know, I presented it that way because it depends upon how you look at it.

Would you say someone who earns 1000 times as much, works 1000 times as hard, or is subject to 1000 times as much danger?

Is that fair?

@pete @drazraeltod @potpie @Strandjunker No, I am absolutely sure that is not the case. It would be humanly impossible to work 1000 times more than another person that works also.

Someone who earns 1000 times more can only do so through other means other than their direct work. For example : if, say, you help a company earn a lot of money, solely through your decisions, you can be paid very well. In this example it's not exactly "work", but just decisions you made that earned you that. [...]

@pete @drazraeltod @potpie @Strandjunker If, for example, you invest 10.000$ in something that has a low probability of success (you have 99% chance you lose all your money), but by chance it works out and pays x100, should you be taxed at a very high rate, just because that payout is high ?

I think you should be taxed at the normal rate as everyone, because in case you lost everything (a risk you were willing to take), nobody would have reimbursed you... The risk was yours, profit should also.

@prolamerdude @drazraeltod @potpie @Strandjunker

Well banks and large businesses justify their profits by saying they are taking risks, but when they get into trouble they get bailed out using public money.

Also, banks takes risks with our money, which we've lent to them. Then their interest rates lag behind the economy so they profit, while we struggle.

Is that fair?

@pete @drazraeltod @potpie @Strandjunker to answer your first point : I find "bailouts" absolutely appalling ! Either you say you want to be capitalist, in which case : you take risk, it doesn't work out, you lose ! Or you're socialist : government helps you out when in trouble, but when you profit, government wins also ! You can't have it both ways !

What Americans called "bailouts" were some of the most shameless displays of greed and corruption I've ever seen !!!

[...]

@pete @drazraeltod @potpie @Strandjunker [...] To your second point about banks' interests : I'm currently learning about finance and how economy works etc. (btw, current economic situation looks very bleak, maybe I'm just a doomer, but damn it feels like everything is over-leveraged and money is fake lol)

And I've been learning about interest a bit; from what I saw, banks propose a certain interest on deposits, but if people don't like it, they take their money out and buy bonds. [...]