With a 15% flat tax a person earning $50,000 would pay $7,500 and a person making $1 billion would pay $150 million. People like you only look at the 15% rate and conclude that they both paid the same. People like fatpiggy look at the dollars and say the billionaire paid 20,000 x more.
“Making”, hence why they pay themselves $1 salary. Oh, so you will tax this income differently (or not at all) vs my salary that has a marginal tax rate? Ok, I’ll just pay myself through this.
you really should look up the amount of money the billionaires are allowed to give to candidates for their elections. You could give just as much, and buy yourself a congressman who will do the things you want....hint...it $3,500 per election...So think about it, based on your statement you can invest $3500 in a congressman and get whatever you want from the government. Your congressman would "have to do things" for you.
Probably right. Especially when you consider that many don't get traditionally-taxed income. I asked Gemini this question:
| Category | Estimated Value (2025–2026) |
| Salary | $0 |
| Realized Income | Varies (Only when selling stock; e.g., ~$10B–$15B in high-sale years) |
| Unrealized "Income" | $25B – $50B per month (average growth during 2025 surge) |
| Total Net Worth | ~$788 Billion (as of May 2026) |
Which lefties do that? None that I know.
You don't understand that billionaires use a different tax system than the rest of us the enables them to avoid taxes?
A person making 30k is left over with 25k, an amount they can't survive on.
You act like Trump created the billionaires. That they barely existed under Obama or Biden which is false. You also act like billionaires don't pay taxes which is also false. Also that the wealth gap is just a USA thing.
I did nothing of the sort. I said it would be against my own self interest but it would solve our deficit issue.
So I have considerable savings (401K, Brokerage Account) that I spent 30 years building that are 100% stock based. I am not wealthy.
No. I said lower the tax rate but tax the income the same. I don’t know what that rate would be but it would be lower than 37%
That reminds me of another thing I would change. Get rid of no tax on tips, no tax on OT, no tax on SS, etc. The idea is to give a break to low income waitresses and garbage collectors who are struggling to get by. Fine, just increase the standard deduction to $50k and accomplish the same thing. Don't continue to gum up the already complex tax system with all these carveouts.
We're running a huge deficit. We need more revenues. We do not need a cost neutral plan.
Again, I didn’t say taxes wouldn’t be increased outside of the super rich. My point was that money earning money and working to earn money should be taxed at the same rate. Goes for everyone.
That sounds like you oppose progressive tax rates. Is that true?
Was something in that directed at me? You’ve done a good job. I’ve had a similar journey, except I’ve taken more vacations.
That’s a strange interpretation. Your earned income, your dividends, and your capital gains would be taxed at the same rate. Mine would be at my rate. What would those rates be, I don’t know.
So same rate among peers? Not same rate for everyone regardless of income - different rates for different incomes?
What different tax system? I don't pay tax on my unrealized capital gains, do you"
You said "money earning money and working to earn money should be taxed at the same rate." I took that to mean same rate across the board, regardless of income. I asked my question to clarify if that was what you meant.
And the post you responded to said: “Your earned income, your dividends, and your capital gains would be taxed at the same rate. Mine would be at my rate. What would those rates be, I don’t know.”
Nobody is acting like Trump created the billionaires.
Not even close. The combined net worth of the 400 wealthiest people is approximately $6 trillion. There's no doubt that's an incredible amount of money. Assume the government confiscates 25% of that amount or $1.5 trillion. That would be enough to run the government for 2.5 months. Our deficit would drop to $500 billion for one year and then we'd be back where we started.
Some people would argue that you shouldn't get SS benefits because you've saved enough and don't need them.
I’m calling BS. A 4.2 40 meter time would be a 3.84 40 yard time. No way you can break 4 second 40.
What a nonsense post. You take $5k from someone making $30k and they could get evicted or lose their healthcare. And you trot out an absurd comparison like this?
OK I see what your saying..billonaires earn $1billion, but "make" less to avoid the high rates....is that it? so their net worth increases but their "salaries" are low.
I don't speak for piggy, but with all due respect, you're misrepresenting my position. I don't care if you tax billionaires...but I just want to make sure we're talking he same thing...we don't have many people with earned, taxable income in the $1billion range. So if we're talking income tax, we're talking maybe 4 or 5 five people max. but that's not what you're talking about. You want to tax billionaires on their net worth increases or their wealth....and that's a different thing altogether. And I don't know how you do that effectively and efficiently. It's been tried in many countries and repealed every time because it has proven to be unworkable.
