It benefits the wealthy by applying to a smaller percentage of their spending. You can easily avoid all tariffs on a 100 million dollar yacht built outside the US, and you don’t pay it for a personal chef etc.

▲

Scoundreller 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Best part is, I don’t even have to pay it on the work of the personal chef I import!

▲

arghwhat 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Most wealthy people are not billionaire wealthy.

Billionaire wealthy pretty much manage to avoid all taxation, progressive or not, so the comparison is moot. They just trample on everyone else.

▲

Retric 2 days ago | parent [-]

Billionaires still pay property taxes etc so it’s worth separating how regressive various tax schemes are.

▲

arghwhat 2 days ago | parent [-]

They don't really. They misreport the value for tax purposes, they own it through some other legal entity that is all negative, they own it through a company that negotiated tax rates to have some other business happen there, they own it in countries that don't to property taxes, etc. etc.

You can be damn sure they're paying at most a tiny fraction if not zero of any tax rate you'd be paying for that asset as they'd much rather pay very good lawyers, accountants, and most importantly, politicians to not have to pay tax.

You don't need progressive taxes. You just need everyone to pay it equally, without loopholes. Fewer less complicated tax rates are harder to work around.

▲

Retric 2 days ago | parent [-]

> They misreport the value for tax purposes

Regular people also commit fraud which can make some differences here. But in general it’s the state who decides what something is worth for tax purposes not the individual.

> they own it through some other legal entity that is all negative

Unpaid property taxes result in forfeiture, so again the state’s getting paid here. It’s financial voodoo around other taxes which causes such structures.

> they own it in countries that don't to property taxes

So do regular people, the important bit is where such property is located not who owns it.

	▲	arghwhat an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> Regular people also commit fraud which can make some differences here. Yeah, but it's hard for a regular person to under/overreport a property by, say, 200 million USD, and most people do not have the power to negotiate with or bribe municipalities to get different tax treatment like big companies and the rich people owning them do. > Unpaid property taxes result in forfeiture Avoided taxes are not unpaid taxes - we're not speaking of people on the run from debt collectors, but people who cheat their way out of having to pay anything. > So do regular people What regular people own properties in foreign countries selected for their tax benefits, for investment or recreational uses? Most regular people own between zero and one property. Granted, they could move, but it takes extra riches to be able to casually straddle multiple borders.