The US federal deficit is, order of magnitude, $1.5 trillion dollars annually. A billionaire has assets, order of magnitude, of a few billion. Even if they just confiscate their entire wealth of all the billionaires then it will do approximately nothing compared to the vast bulk of the US government. I think people underestimate how large and centralised the US State has become since WWII.
If this is being pitched as strictly a class warfare measure then sure. It sounds like a bad idea but hey, politics away. However if the idea is to actually tackle any of the problems that the US is facing then this scheme seems pointless on the face of it.
amanaplanacanal•1mo ago
I think you misread the article? This is getting proposed as a state tax in California, nothing to do with the federal government.
roenxi•1mo ago
Unless California has seceded from the US when I wasn't watching it has quite a lot to do with the US federal government. Ignoring the federal budget would be like a family going broke claiming they have budget for a holiday because they've decided to think about it differently from their regular finances. They can say that if they want, but nobody is going to take them seriously except maybe the person selling holiday supplies.
There is a reason Ro Khanna and Newsom are the ones being tapped to give opinions on this as opposed to talking to anyone in the Californian legislature or someone actually involved. It matters a lot in context of the financial problems the US has federally.
Do the Californians use different taxpayers than the federal government? No. They're the same people. California is one of the big US wealth engines.
bl4kers•1mo ago
What? Again, have you read the article? If it's a California tax the money goes to California and its budget, not the federal government or the federal budget
roenxi•1mo ago
Yes I read the article. Have you read the comment you're replaying to? It clarified exactly that point. The scale of spending in the federal budget is so large that it a state billionaire tax is meaningless. They could confiscate the entire wealth of every billionaire in the US and it wouldn't make any difference to how much tax Californians are going to need to stump up, their federal commitments are far too large for it to make a meaningful difference.
And as long as this tax is being thought of entirely as a social engineering exercise that is fine as far as it goes. I think it's stupid but hey, Californians can vote for social engineering experiments. It just isn't a serious proposal for making a difference to their lives financially vis a vis the taxes they will pay. They're on the hook for a lot of taxes.
roenxi•1mo ago
If this is being pitched as strictly a class warfare measure then sure. It sounds like a bad idea but hey, politics away. However if the idea is to actually tackle any of the problems that the US is facing then this scheme seems pointless on the face of it.
amanaplanacanal•1mo ago
roenxi•1mo ago
There is a reason Ro Khanna and Newsom are the ones being tapped to give opinions on this as opposed to talking to anyone in the Californian legislature or someone actually involved. It matters a lot in context of the financial problems the US has federally.
Do the Californians use different taxpayers than the federal government? No. They're the same people. California is one of the big US wealth engines.
bl4kers•1mo ago
roenxi•1mo ago
And as long as this tax is being thought of entirely as a social engineering exercise that is fine as far as it goes. I think it's stupid but hey, Californians can vote for social engineering experiments. It just isn't a serious proposal for making a difference to their lives financially vis a vis the taxes they will pay. They're on the hook for a lot of taxes.