Wealth Tax

[LivingAlmostLarge]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/warren-buffett-s-death-plan-dodges-taxes-and-will-make-his-kids-philanthropic-titans-says-wealth-inequality-guru/ar-AA1qPiwz?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=1b3a4315e4694e5899e48fbf0b20e731&ei=73#image=6

This guy says we should tax inheritances significantly which I agree. Anything over $1 billion (yeah that is a lot of money). But he also says that Warren Buffet is donating all his money to a foundation/trust his kids control and that's unfair.

I'm not sure I agree there. He says that the US needs to crack down on people who avoid paying taxes by donating it to charities. Is that really fair or feasible?

I sort of think it's fine since even we get a break for donations to charities. So why are they making it a big deal to leave your estate to charities? What do you think?

[bjl584]

The unintended consequences "could" be that charities suffer, since they might receive less donations if there is less of a tax incentive for people to give to them.

[Fishindude77]

The majority of money accumulated in a large estates has typically been earned through business investments which have created jobs and paid all kinds of taxes all the while they were building these entities and the wealth.
Mister wealthy gets to the end of life and wants to pass it to his kids or another entity and the government wants to step in and grab a big piece of it. That seems like pretty unfair taxation to me.

How about the government reign in it's spending so they don't require such an appetite to tax everyone? Wishful thinking, I know.

I do think there are a lot of pretty phony charities out there (Clinton Foundation comes to mind) that are strictly created to to funnel money to various entities or individuals under the radar.
Should be pretty tough requirements on what is, or is not classified a legit charity.

[ua_guy]

Extreme wealth leads to distortions in democracy. Wealth taxes don't concern most of us and people should stop pretending that maybe someday they will. That's the typical inconvenienced billionaire mindset and it's loathsome.

[kork13]

Part of what he missed is that yes, while Buffet's kids will control the trust, it's required to be distributed, in full, within 10 years. North of $130B going to charities within 10 years? How is that harmful to our democracy? If anything, it represents a fundamental ideal for our society -- capitalism doing good & taking care of people. Yes, I'm assuming that the money will go to legitimate charities, not shill companies designed for political/etc. influence .... But Buffet's good intentions have always been pretty clear, so I trust that it'll eventually be distributed appropriately & meaningfully.

[ua_guy]

North of $130B going to charities within 10 years? How is that harmful to our democracy?

I don't think it is. I admire Buffet's good intentions because when it comes to charity, he's one of the real deals. The danger to democracy is when concentrated wealth doesn't get distributed. It passes between people, who then may use it to buy political influence. That is the danger to democracy.