
How much would Bernie 2016 cost you? - jmorf
https://medium.com/@thainsimon/how-much-would-bernie-2016-cost-you-fa040b83c258#.qxtmpb9f6
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golergka
One thing I don't see discussed in "tax the rich" discussions about US
politics is that it actually often means "tax the capital". But capital is
very mobile in modern world; the moment you increase tax on capital gains in
US, markets rebalance, and capital moves to other parts of the worlds,
reaching some kind of risk/gain equilibrium.

For me, an outsider, the US was always in contrast with other first world
countries in terms of how lucrative it to the capital, and how powerful and
healthy the whole economy is on a large scale, and how quickly it recovered
after 2007, compared to other economies that were similarly affected.
Everybody moves to US for jobs, or to start a business. Doesn't US left wing
sees that as something worth preserving?

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_yosefk
I don't really have an opinion on what the optimal capital gain tax rate is,
but wrt your specific point of capital being mobile _in the sense of being
able to evade a higher tax rate_ (as opposed to being mobile in the sense of
being able to choose what to invest in) - I'm not sure it is _except for the
few very, very rich people_. If an American divests from US stocks and
reinvests the capital in European or Asian stocks, AFAIK they still have to
pay taxes for their capital gains, and Americans specifically even have to pay
capital gain taxes if they move elsewhere, unless they renounce their
citizenship. Certainly pension funds managing the capital of millions of
Americans will pay a higher capital gain tax regardless of where they invest
the capital and millions of Americans will not emigrate as a result. As to
corporations, the US is making it tougher to escape its unusually high tax
rate on profits by targeting "inversions" right now.

So while I'd guess that higher taxes will hurt growth at some point, I'm not
sure that they're that easy to escape; perhaps I'm missing some obvious
loopholes.

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golergka
Uhm, but private citizens don't usually invest themselves — if I understand
correclty, typical 401k (or whatever american pension plans based on
investments is called) is invested into huge funds and banks, which operate
trillions of dollars in assets and can move them all over the world.

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_yosefk
Move - yes, but does this stop the government from collecting the capital
gains tax? I think not.

So if you make American companies less profitable through some regulations,
capital will move elsewhere, but if you raise the capital gains tax, I'm not
sure it will.

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chris_wot
Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

