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Becuase it shows how cutoss inevitably produce wierdness.

I think wierdness is an acceptable price to pay.

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I EXPECT one. Different. I'm not going to make it my business to make everything as nasty as possible in the hopes of provoking one.

I expect to find a job; doesn't mean that I'm going to stop actively trying to find one.

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Yes.

So why isn't it the same?

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Fine. But this isn;t a case of doing wrong.

I think that fucking up your kids' future to preserve your Saga cruises is pretty wrong.

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Actually I was saying the opposite.

You were saying that the government should do nothing for fear of a media backlash.

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Originally Posted by Gilles de Rais

Alternatively, I present to you "The Exponential Growth Tax" - It does everything the flat tax does, plus it prevents the build-up of an aristocracy and sort out out-sized income/wealth inequality in one fell swoop...

I don't really care about inequality, and I suspect that the maths involved would wind up complicated.

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Originally Posted by Zichao

I don't really care about inequality...

? You should because that's why you cannot find a job.

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...and I suspect that the maths involved would wind up complicated.

f(x) = 2^(x).

Not that hard.

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? You should because that's why you cannot find a job.

Hereditary privilege and a shitty economy is why I can't find a job. You can have fair inequality, as long as the money isn't passed down through the generations.

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f(x) = 2^(x). Not that hard.

I suppose it depends what sort of declaration system you use. If people have to calculate their taxes themselves it's never going to work. I don't even own a calculator, and I've forgotten whatever the hell f(x) is supposed to mean. If I get bullshit like that in the post I'm setting myself up as a limited company in Bermuda. Steal vast swathes of my income to pay for policies that I don't support and which don't benefit me? Fine. Make me do something that looks suspiciously like it may involve logarithms at some point? That's where I draw the line.

I guess people could just put in a number online and the computer would work it out. That would be okay.

Also, as far as I'm concerned it's unfair. If I make a bajillion dollars then you're not getting 99% of it. I'm moving to Macao instead.

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Originally Posted by Zichao

Hereditary privilege and a shitty economy is why I can't find a job. You can have fair inequality, as long as the money isn't passed down through the generations.

So, in which case, your slogan need to be about flat tax + death tax.

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I suppose it depends what sort of declaration system you use. If people have to calculate their taxes themselves it's never going to work. I don't even own a calculator, and I've forgotten whatever the hell f(x) is supposed to mean. If I get bullshit like that in the post I'm setting myself up as a limited company in Bermuda. Steal vast swathes of my income to pay for policies that I don't support and which don't benefit me? Fine. Make me do something that looks suspiciously like it may involve logarithms at some point? That's where I draw the line. I guess people could just put in a number online and the computer would work it out. That would be okay.

Yep. Online declaration or paper declaration or taken at the source, it doesn't matter. You're not the one using the function but it's a dead simple one.

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Also, as far as I'm concerned it's unfair. If I make a bajillion dollars then you're not getting 99% of it. I'm moving to Macao instead.

Then we'll blockade/invade Monaco (done by Charles De Gaulle) and/or confiscate all your assets...

Besides, you didn't make a bajillion dollars. Not on your on own. You wouldn't have make a bajillion dollars back in the jungle or Somalia.

Finally, every one of your peer would be downgraded just the same as you - And, if the fiscal pressure added to a 95% cut, it'd mean that, instead of playing around with $5billions, you'd have to impress starlets and models with only $250millions. I suspect they'd still be okay to marry you...

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Well, have fun in Monaco - I'll be busy playing the tables in Macao...

But seriously. I wouldn't object to paying, say, 33% (IIRC that's the Hong Kong rate) on my obscene wealth. Especially if everyone else in the richest 2/3 was paying the same amount, and corporation tax was relatively low. I'd object to paying 99%. I'd either just give up work altogether, or, as I say, move to Macao where nothing is illegal.

I think there have been studies showing higher recovery rates among the richest in countries with a flat tax system. Wouldn't you rather have 33% of my millions in the treasury, rather than 99% in theory, 0% in reality, and a nice warm fuzzy of social justice?

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Originally Posted by Zichao

Well, have fun in Monaco - I'll be busy playing the tables in Macao...

Chinese millionaires are running away from China as fast as they can... You want to go there? Be my guest...

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I'd object to paying 99%. I'd either just give up work altogether...

Feel free. How is that going to change anything, I don't know. It's not like you're working for your money if you have obscene wealth. Microsoft does pretty well without Bill Gates and Ford Motors did pretty well for a long time, well after Henry Ford started feeding worms...

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Wouldn't you rather have 33% of my millions in the treasury, rather than 99% in theory, 0% in reality, and a nice warm fuzzy of social justice?

How are you going to take your companies with you? Vodafone is in the UK (or around the world). How are you going to move every physical asset, including retail shops, to Macao?

And what would happen to the Chinese economy if we started raising tariffs on them? "You refuse to play by our rules, you no longer sell to us"... They'd be imploding within months...

Believe me - The West has the ultimate upper-hand. We could easily impose our will to everyone - with nothing but economic pressure.

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Chinese millionaires are running away from China as fast as they can... You want to go there? Be my guest...

One country, two systems.

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Feel free. How is that going to change anything, I don't know. It's not like you're working for your money if you have obscene wealth. Microsoft does pretty well without Bill Gates and Ford Motors did pretty well for a long time, well after Henry Ford started feeding worms...

It means that instead of getting a percentage of my income, you now get nothing.

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How are you going to take your companies with you? Vodafone is in the UK (or around the world). How are you going to move every physical asset, including retail shops, to Macao? And what would happen to the Chinese economy if we started raising tariffs on them? "You refuse to play by our rules, you no longer sell to us"... They'd be imploding within months... Believe me - The West has the ultimate upper-hand. We could easily impose our will to everyone - with nothing but economic pressure.

If we're talking about exponential corporation tax, then yeah, I'd just leave. Find other markets elsewhere. If it's just income tax then I guess I'd sell my shares in the company, set myself up as a management consultancy in some tax haven somewhere and run it like that. It has the downside that I don't "legally" control it, and the shareholders or the directors could set up a coup or something, but that actually sounds like quite a fun challenge.

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Originally Posted by Zichao

It means that instead of getting a percentage of my income, you now get nothing.

? You don't get an income either and I've just inherited your industrial base. I'll distribute the shares to the employees, maybe some other stakeholders and let the Markets do the rest. You'd be a near penniless (you'd probably run with some bags of diamonds and a few paintings) and with no longer any income or income-generating assets. Good luck.

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If we're talking about exponential corporation tax, then yeah, I'd just leave. Find other markets elsewhere.

Unless we colonised Mars without me looking, there aren't any other markets elsewhere. The West is where it's at. And the EM "middle classes" aren't yet enough to either support all the world's industrial supply and/or under control of other oligarchs who would not see you setting up shop over there positively. How many foreign groups have come to dominate a particular industry in, say, China or Russia or Brazil?

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If it's just income tax then I guess I'd sell my shares in the company, set myself up as a management consultancy in some tax haven somewhere and run it like that. It has the downside that I don't "legally" control it, and the shareholders or the directors could set up a coup or something, but that actually sounds like quite a fun challenge.

That would mean that your insights into your company have been so unique as to be irreplaceable. AND anyhow they still wouldn't have the cash to pay you the fees you want...

Anyhoo, nice fantasies and stuff but the simple truth is that you're not going to be a bajillionaire. And if the prospect of $250 mil plus the fame that goes with belonging to the top 0.0001% isn't enough to motivate you to work hard and take risk, I don't know what will - incl. bajillions - the difference between $250 mil and 'being extremely rich' being, errr, non-existent...

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