To this day, Sanders' proposed exit tax remains one of the most alarming authoritarian proposals I've ever seen from a US presidential candidate. Confiscating property with explicit intent to keep a particular class of citizens from voluntarily leaving is a *hell* of a precedent
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Replying to @PaulsonJonathan @webdevMason
I believe you just have to pay unrealized capital gains
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You pay cap gains rate on total net worth. So yes, 23.8% exit tax exists today. (Which btw is cheap if facing a 6-8% wealth tax)
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Having to pay a tax on assets you're moving out at the rate you'd always have had to pay if you'd sold them is well within reason. Having to forfeit an arbitrary % of your assets *that have already been taxed* at a rate set to dissuade you from leaving is not even the same game
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Replying to @webdevMason @JLlama99 and
Isn't any tax an arbitrary amount decided ahead of time? I don't see the distinction between an exit tax and a tax.
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Replying to @raymondedwards @JLlama99 and
The citizen's ultimate recourse if they no longer agree to the terms of living in a country is to leave. If they've accrued a tax obligation up to that point, they must pay it. But penalizing them specifically for leaving weakens the single most vital check on government power.
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Replying to @webdevMason @JLlama99 and
"The citizen's ultimate recourse if they no longer agree to the terms of living in a country is to leave" They are not prevented from doing so. Given these amounts, the immensely wealthy will remain immensely wealthy even after this "penalty"
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Threatening to take half of someone's assets if they do x will definitely disincentivize them. And if you're not trying to disincentivize anything, why not do it to everyone? Poof, half of what you have is now ours. You're still plenty rich.
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Replying to @webdevMason @JLlama99 and
It's a penalty in principle but in real terms it's minor discomfort for the sake of the improvement of social services. The discomfort being "I can't spend those 10s of millions, oh well, I still have more 10s of millions"
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Replying to @raymondedwards @webdevMason and
Anyway, I see how this is principle for you, I'll show myself out.
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