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   K.J. Elphinstone (katyelphinstone@mas.to)'s status on Sunday, 12-Oct-2025 06:29:37 JST K.J. Elphinstone

   Just a 2% wealth tax on the world’s richest 3,000 billionaires could raise $250 billion every year, enough to save lives, protect ecosystems, & fund a just transition to a greener future.

   Ramaphosa has set the stage. His G20 presidency theme, “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability”, puts justice to the fore. He’s launched a task force on wealth inequality & economic disparities. A billionaire tax could 'seal the deal':

   https://act.sumofus.org/go/734830?t=10&akid=153805%2E15669379%2EE6bhRf

   #Environment #TaxTheRich #Billionaires

   • Embed this notice
     K.J. Elphinstone (katyelphinstone@mas.to)'s status on Sunday, 12-Oct-2025 06:31:22 JST K.J. Elphinstone

     in reply to

     • cy
     • J Lou

     @cy

     Tax laws are a good way to equalise wealth, if they're used for that purpose (e.g. taxing property, especially when its ownership is excessive and/or detrimental to others; taxing excessive wealth , e.g. by placing negative interest on money so that it devalues over time... how that money would move!).

     Plus, it would be nicer, I think, to do it without bloodshed.

     There's a reason why violent revolutions and violent politics lead to yet more violence (and inequality, as you say).

     @jlou

     Steve's Place repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     K.J. Elphinstone (katyelphinstone@mas.to)'s status on Sunday, 12-Oct-2025 06:31:22 JST K.J. Elphinstone

     in reply to

     • cy
     • J Lou

     @cy

     As for fascism - with very few exceptions (when you dig deep enough) extreme politics tend to be all about cash. The 'values' part is generally a ruse to win over the population and the cavalry.

     There's a *lot* of money to be made through dehumanising and oppressing large swaths of the population.

     So yes, with robust international mechanisms in place to equalise wealth, you'd change everything. Extreme politics would not have such a fertile soil to grow in.

     @jlou

   • Embed this notice
     K.J. Elphinstone (katyelphinstone@mas.to)'s status on Sunday, 12-Oct-2025 06:31:23 JST K.J. Elphinstone

     in reply to

     • cy
     • J Lou

     @cy

     I'm kind of hoping we can get international wealth taxes passed, because if we don't, we're facing global ecological and social collapse in the not-too-distant future.

     @jlou

   • Embed this notice
     cy (cy@fedicy.us.to)'s status on Sunday, 12-Oct-2025 06:31:23 JST cy

     in reply to

     • J Lou
     The way to tax the wealthy is to get everyone together and forgive all debts, and go and take the wealthy's property because fuck them. Generally it involves heads on pikes. In all of history, every attempt to do it legally has always ended up with the wealthy getting richer.
     
     You can't tax the fascists out of power.
     
     CC: @jlou@mastodon.social
     
   • Embed this notice
     cy (cy@fedicy.us.to)'s status on Sunday, 12-Oct-2025 06:31:24 JST cy

     in reply to

     • J Lou
     That seems... very wrong. Not that wealth taxes work, b/c politicians will always refuse to pass wealth taxes. But uh...
     The economist’s answer is simple and essentially fool-proof: allow each owner to declare the value of his own property, make the declared values public, and require that an owner sell his property to any bidder willing to pay the declared value.
     Why yes my name is Peter Thiel and I only own this rock here. What? No I haven't hidden any wealth away. Surely! Anyway here's 300K I found in my pocket just now. Give me your house, the law says you have to give it. You can rent it back from me for 3K a month, though!
     
     What's that? You proved (somehow) that I own your house, and you want to buy your house back? OK your house is now worth 13 quadrillion dollars. You wouldn't happen to have that much money, would you?
     
     Oh it's tax day? Look whose properties just went down to 13 cents apiece!
     
     Fact is, you can't make a system that cannot be gamed. Nothing is fool-proof. You either make friends, form alliances, and work together because you like each other, or you get robbed by the rich.
     
     CC: @KatyElphinstone@mas.to
     
   • Embed this notice
     J Lou (jlou@mastodon.social)'s status on Sunday, 12-Oct-2025 06:31:25 JST J Lou

     in reply to

     @KatyElphinstone

     Common ownership self-assessed taxes >>> wealth taxes

     Because

     They increase efficiency by allowing people to force-buy at owners’ self-assessed price and align incentives, so that self-assessment is all that is needed for an accurate assessment.

     https://www.flightfromperfection.com/the-common-ownership-self-assessed-tax.html

     #Taxation #TaxPolicy #Taxes #Socialism #Billionaires #TaxTheRich #inequality