BoringAccountant
New member
First of all, not everyone who uses said "loopholes" is doing so to the tune of hundreds of thousands nor is there anything to suggest that those who do are still owing hundreds of thousands. For all we know many of them could be reducing their tax responsibility to a mere single digit percentage.
Ok, first my experience is talking through that example of the hundreds of thousands, but I agree that it is only one in a million cases and each is different.
However, the second thing to consider is they are not these so-called loopholes, they are legit ways to pay lower tax. For example, some investments generate losses, those losses allow the individual, company, etc. to offset their income to the amount of their losses for the year. They really did loose money during the year, it just happens that they get a tax break for that on their return. Meaning, if they make X, the IRS allows them to deduct Y as a loss, because they actually lose Y during the year. Are there more agressive ways, sure, most result in higher risk for audit, higher chance of paying penalties and interest on the amount that should have been paid.
Thirdly,
In many cases the wealth is not from hard work but from luck and investments meaning that their wealth is reliant on a stable, secure society and thus should be responsible for a greater share of making sure the government is around to protect that.
we are now basing the higher tax on higher income individuals because they should pay for the government to be around and protect them? Huh?
You miss the important part of your post, from investments, they actually INVESTED that money, they are on the hook for that, they are risking it to some extent.