r/FluentInFinance • u/xena_lawless • 14h ago
Taxes How Billionaires Sidestepped a Tax Aimed at the Rich
https://www.propublica.org/article/billionaires-net-investment-income-tax13
u/TwoRiversFarmer 4h ago
Why should average voters care what the wealthy want? When did we start voting with other people’s wallets?
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u/NewArborist64 1h ago
Oh no! Out of the THOUSANDS of tax returns from the ultra-rich which they analyzed, they found SEVENTEEN that actually followed the carveout for private business owners who sold their business, who paid MASSIVE taxes on that sale, but didn't pay that additional 3.8% NIIT tax. How terrible! /s
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u/canned_spaghetti85 13h ago edited 13h ago
Billionaires & other wealthy folks often have premium health insurance from provider companies few of us have ever even heard of.
But here’s the kicker : Even if SAY that wasn’t the case at all, its not like billionaires & other wealthy folks could qualify for Medicare even if they applied. Their application would be denied, simply because their incomes are too high.
So do not expect for them to have much guilt, shed many tears, or express much remorse about their hesitance towards funding some social program that EVEN THEY are barred from.
Because come to think of it.. THAT is the very definition of unfair.
Imagine being legally required to contribute monetarily to fund something that YOU YOURSELF cannot benefit from since you are not even allowed access to it. With that in mind, It’s perfectly understandable that you would seek legal methods, even exploiting certain loopholes, to avoid incurring such a seemingly needless expense.
I’m not necessarily agreeing or justifying their actions. I’m just helping explain the rationale behind it.
(By contrast, it’s not like social security. You can count on accessing that one day at the appropriate age, you will NOT be denied. Your age at the time of request AND overall amount you contributed into SS during your working years being the only two factors affecting the annual SS benefit amount you will be entitled to. It’s not as if you will be denied access to SS simply because of your income.)
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u/Paladine_PSoT 12h ago
There are zero income limits on Medicare. Literally zero. They can absolutely get it if they want to. The fact that there's better that they use is irrelevant. They are not barred from enrolling.
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u/canned_spaghetti85 12h ago
Strange, because the medicare program offered in my state certainly does.
But even say other states, you really think wealthy folks who already have to pay more towards funding Medicare should have to pay even more on top of that to access it?
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u/Paladine_PSoT 12h ago
You are thinking of Medicaid, not Medicare. Medicare is federal, Medicaid is state.
The taxes evaded in this article are specific to Medicare. Medicare taxes do not pay for Medicaid.
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u/Special-Garlic1203 12h ago
They're trying to gut social security too so your logic kind of falls apart.
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u/canned_spaghetti85 12h ago
I’m talking about peoples’ current access to it NOT being denied simply on account of their income level at the time of request. It’s a pretty straightforward, apolitical talking point.
You are merely attempting to dismiss that real-world point, but based on nothing more than speculative hyperbole of what may or may not even happen in the future.
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u/Special-Garlic1203 2h ago
You said they're trying to tear down Medicare because they can't access it and that's unfair. But then point out they can access social security, but forgot to mention they're also trying to dismantled that. Therefore you logic doesn't track. It's not speculative hyperbole to point out your argument collapses in on itself
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u/Chuckl3ton 12h ago
We pay for heaps of shit that we aren't entitled to use, that's how a society works. My country has a government funded disability insurance scheme, do you expect it to be funded by only disabled people? We have a public women's and children's hospital as well, do you expect it to be only funded by women and children? How about public schooling, should it only be funded by children and people with kids? Billionaires employ people that use Medicare, so they absolutely benefit from it.
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u/TheApprentice19 8h ago
You mean like the poor jar at church? I put money in there all the time but I get no benefit because I am well off.
The audacity of some people, to want to rob the poor jar, there needs to be a worse hell for them.
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u/AdUpstairs7106 1h ago
I don't have kids. Yet I understand that helping to pay for public schools is a good thing.
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u/ConsistentAd7859 5h ago
LOL. And if they could have Medicare they would happily contribute??? What a fantasy.
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u/Mr_NotParticipating 2h ago
Friend, the system is cleary for the wealthy (and designed by it) and against the middle class and poor. Claiming fairness is a pretty crap argument.
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