8 pointsby hn_acker13 hours ago5 comments
  • f30e3dfed1c95 hours ago
    Is that a promise? I can think of at least a few I'd love to see the last of.
  • TowerTall11 hours ago
    Then let them leave. If they don't want to contribute whats the point of having them around in the first place?
  • FrankWilhoit11 hours ago
    ...and if they are allowed to avoid taxes, the system loses its credibility. I think we have seen which is worse.
  • bediger400010 hours ago
    Is there any evidence (beyond anecdotal, like Steven Seagal and Gérard Depardieu) for Rich People Leaving? I'm absolutely certain you can find one or two Rich People leaving jurisdictions after tax increases, but do enough people leave to make a statistical difference?
    • hollerith10 hours ago
      Not a direct answer to your question, but I think tax rates in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s were very high, then when the rates were lowered, tax revenue actually went up. The term "Laffer curve" was used a lot in public discussion of this topic in the 1970s and 1980s.
      • bediger40009 hours ago
        Tax revenue hasn't gone up in the US despite many rounds of lowering taxes since the 1980s. Clearly, the US is on the part of the Laffer curve with a positive slope.

        Laffer curve revenue increases have to derive from an increase in the marginal benefit of working. I can't see a mechanism for rich people to increase tax revenue if the rates drop.

        • hollerith9 hours ago
          The mechanism is that when the rate drops, people spend less time dodging taxes and more time earning taxable income.
          • bediger40008 hours ago
            Exactly. That doesn't apply to wealthy people, whose income is almost entirely from investments.
  • hn_acker13 hours ago
    This video discusses circumstances under which increasing taxes on millionaires+ wouldn't necessarily reduce some counties' tax revenues (and in some cases would increase them). Keep in mind that it does not suggest how to find optimal or fair tax rates.