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We Desperately Need Maximum Wage Laws (jacobin.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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With wealth inequality and billionaire control over American society growing ever more obscene, it’s well past time to implement a maximum wage limit.

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[–] 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Real estate is a good example of the trickiest thing about "simple" wealth tax.

I bought a house, and 20 years later I have to pay more taxes because my neighbourhood is more desirable?

Okay, easy solution, you get one free house you need to reside in for x% of your time per year.

But say I bought a painting from a local artist, even a friend, and decades go by and they've gone on to become ultra famous. Do I now have to pay more tax because I possess something that has become valuable?

Obviously thats a very unlikely scenario, but you can see the principle issue.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago

    For the numbers I suggested, I don't think you'd realistically hit these types of cases.

    1000x annual minimum wage is $14.5 million. Based on a quick search, the threshold for the top 1% of Americans with respect to net worth starts at $13.6 million in 2023. So over 98% of Americans would never see the impact of a wealth tax like this.

    If minimum wage were brought up to a realistic level, say $20/hour (still low, but better than the current $7.25), that threshold jumps to $40 million. This would capture somewhere between the top 0.5% and 0.1%. This is excessive wealth.

    In the case where your painting is suddenly worth $50 million, yes--you'd have to pay more tax. But I think that many dollars might be some reprieve from the pain of selling it.

    Applying sensible economic policy to extreme wealth is easier than general economic policy.

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