Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

If you tax loans that means every credit card purchase or mortgage would trigger a tax. If you receive a $400k loan for a mortgage, that would mean something like $100k in taxes for an upper middle earner.


Thresholds + only collateralized loans?


Pawnshops are collateralized loans for the poor.

If the goal is to tax the rich, just be more direct and tax the rich. A wealth tax would work, no need for elaborate schemes.


> Pawnshops are collateralized loans for the poor.

Yes, that's why I said "thresholds". Not suggesting we tax small loans (or a small total value of loans taken out by an individual, regardless of the value of the individual loans).

> wealth tax

By many people's estimation, a wealth tax is an elaborate scheme, because is unrealized wealth really wealth?

If Bezos has $100B in stock but a sale of all that stock would only fetch $60B, do we still tax on $100B? How can someone's wealth be realistically and equitably calculated if it is not realized? Putting fairness aside for a minute, you are probably severely underestimating the overhead / elaborateness of such calculations.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: