• JohnBrownsBussy2 [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      The proposal is for a globally-levied tax. Where exactly is capital going to fly to?

    • GarbageShoot [he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      Capital flight only exists where it is allowed to exist. It is possible and, in fact, advisable to have laws allowing for the seizure of assets in such a scenario.

        • GarbageShoot [he/him]
          ·
          1 month ago

          No, the 2% is for the ones who obey the law, and is enforced with something more like 100% for those who break the law.

            • GarbageShoot [he/him]
              ·
              1 month ago

              That depends on if you do or do not want to fight a global revolutionary war against the bourgeoisie, since they would never allow such a thing to succeed in their liberal republics

                • GarbageShoot [he/him]
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 month ago

                  It's countless layers of hypotheticals away from reality and I think recommending bourgeois governments liquidate their bourgeoisie is silly in the way that, in medieval times, recommending the kings of the world abolish noble titles and the monarchy is silly, you aren't going to get these institutions to just kill themselves. What I support is the proletariat, by reason of having class antagonism with the bourgeoisie, fighting a war against the former's control of the state.

                  What do you support?

                  • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
                    ·
                    1 month ago

                    Funny thing, I think you're the first person to ask me that in the past few years. Everyone's eager to join a club and advertise it, but I've had better luck just staying away from labels. Nobody cares what I think, probably not even you, but people do care a bit about facts. Yes, that's a dodge of the question, but only because I don't like wasting time on discussions that probably go nowhere.

                    You're right, it's far from reality. This proposal is also far from reality, given that it was put forward as a global thing. A 2% tax but then a 100% tax if they're naughty is also far from reality. On the internet, everything is far from reality. In real life I do activism, on the internet I talk and share and hope it makes a difference just by bringing something to someone's attention.

    • umbrella@lemmy.ml
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      to where? we are the biggest market in south america. good luck abandoning it because of a measly 2% tax.

      i wish their capital would fly, we would probably take over that fucking space ourselves and do a better fucking job.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        What this means in practice, is that someone will make a billion dollars in Brazil, and then move and spend it all elsewhere, so they can continue becoming richer. This is bad for Brazil, since developing is expensive.

        I think a hard cap would be better.

        • umbrella@lemmy.ml
          ·
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          I agree, a 2% tax is barely anything and would only be just slightly better than absolutely nothing.

          someone will make a billion dollars in Brazil, and then move and spend it all elsewhere

          they do exactly that already. most of our oligarchs hate their own country and spend most of their time (and money!) in europe or something. really gross people in general.

  • pingveno@lemmy.ml
    ·
    1 month ago

    Wealth taxes have been tried and later rescinded. They are extremely hard to administer for rich people. They usually have their wealth tied up in assets, not cash. Valuing those assets is itself expensive. What is a painting worth? Their entire stock portfolio? It is much easier to tax money as it moves through capital gains, income, and estate taxes.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
      hexagon
      ·
      1 month ago

      The fact that even this largely performative measure is being opposed by the US makes it pretty clear that no real action will be possible under the current regime.

      • pingveno@lemmy.ml
        ·
        1 month ago

        Okay, and how is that a rebuttal? Wealth taxes cost a large amount to administer and don't provide much revenue. Any tax should be weighed against its side effects. If a type of tax has a history of being mainly performative with little revenue, what's the case for swallowing the side effects?

        Again, it's much easier to tax wealth as it moves because typically that movement involves putting a value on it. Estate taxes also require appraising the value of assets, but they are literally once in a lifetime.

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
          hexagon
          ·
          1 month ago

          I'm not rebutting that wealth taxes don't really work. I'm saying that even this performative measure is not palatable to the oligarchs, then obviously any serious measure won't be either.

          • pingveno@lemmy.ml
            ·
            1 month ago

            If they won't accept bloodletting to release the bad humors, then surely they won't accept acetaminophen for a headache?

            It's bad policy. Many countries have experimented with it and given up. Others like the UK looked at it and couldn't find a way to make it worth the administration cost to begin with. There is simply no excuse for enacting known bad policy, and no amount of blaming things on oligarchies is going to get around that.

            • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
              hexagon
              ·
              1 month ago

              Oh hey, I remember how this guy Sanders was proposing a lot of good and sensible policies with his green new deal idea. How'd that work out?

              • pingveno@lemmy.ml
                ·
                1 month ago

                Mixed. Quite a few policies have been passed into law as part of the "Inflation Reduction Act" (which was more geared toward climate change action). Then the bipartisan infrastructure bill finally had some halfway decent funding for rail instead of scraps. Still not enough, but it's a start. The Biden administration set a goal of making the power industry net zero by 2035 and the US net zero by 2050. Not as good as is ideal, but the Green New Deal had some policy effects. That's just kind of how things usually work, you throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.

                • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
                  hexagon
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 month ago

                  The inflation reduction act is a perfect example of an idiotic policy that failed to achieve either reducing inflation, which is still climbing, or making any impact in terms of reducing emissions. In fact, U.S. fossil fuel production was reaching new highs in 2023 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=50978

                  Then the bipartisan infrastructure bill finally had some halfway decent funding for rail instead of scraps.

                  And what are the tangible effects of this bill?

                  The Biden administration set a goal of making the power industry net zero by 2035 and the US net zero by 2050.

                  Once again, tangible results point in the opposite direction here as seen above. And now US is criminally putting tariffs on Chinese solar panels and EVs in a middle of a climate crisis to make things worse.

                  That’s just kind of how things usually work, you throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.

                  All the policies that have been passed do have a common theme though. What has happened consistently during Biden admin is that the oligarchs have increased their wealth substantially while the working majority became more poor. The purpose of the system is what it does.

                  • pingveno@lemmy.ml
                    ·
                    1 month ago

                    reducing inflation, which is still climbing

                    Wrong. So wrong. Inflation in the US is around 3.5%, down from a high of 7%. Whether that's attributable to the IRA is, of course, up for debate.

                    fossil fuel production

                    Regardless of fossil fuel production, actual CO2 equivalent is dropping and has been dropping for a long time.

                    And what are the tangible effects of this bill?

                    What has happened consistently during Biden admin is that the oligarchs have increased their wealth substantially while the working majority became more poor.

                    Those numbers are complex because the Biden administration has dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout its entire existence. But recently, wage growth has been catching up, with the lowest wage workers getting the strongest growth. Inflation is slowly getting under control. But then too the stock market has been on a high. Will that burst at any moment? Hard to tell.

                    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
                      hexagon
                      ·
                      1 month ago

                      Wrong. So wrong. Inflation in the US is around 3.5%, down from a high of 7%. Whether that’s attributable to the IRA is, of course, up for debate.

                      The rate of inflation has slowed, but the inflation is still rising https://www.bankrate.com/banking/federal-reserve/what-is-inflation/

                      And the elephant in the room is of course the way inflation is measured which excludes key things that affect people the most such as rent and gas prices since they're deemed too volatile. This gives a very skewed picture of what's actually happening with real inflation, as in the rise in cost of living that people are experiencing. (more on that later)

                      Regardless of fossil fuel production, actual CO2 equivalent is dropping and has been dropping for a long time.

                      This is largely a result of deindustrialization because US doesn't produce much of anything domestically with industry being only something like 11% of the economy. So, all this shows is how US increasingly outsources emissions for the goods consumed in US. And the oil that US exports is used to fuel those emissions.

                      EV infrastructure (mixed feelings on this, but its an improvement over ICE)

                      the improvement https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/03/28/ev-charging-stations-slow-rollout/

                      Incentives for solar and wind, which are working

                      false https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61943

                      And this is going to get a lot worse with Biden's tariffs on cheap solar panels and batteries from China.

                      Those numbers are complex because the Biden administration has dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout its entire existence.

                      🤨

                      Last I checked the pandemic was a global event, so why is China's economy growing at over 5% with people's savings hitting a record high?

                      https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-jones-bank-earnings-01-12-2024/card/chinese-household-savings-hit-another-record-high-xqyky00IsIe357rtJb4j

                      But recently, wage growth has been catching up, with the lowest wage workers getting the strongest growth. Inflation is slowly getting under control. But then too the stock market has been on a high. Will that burst at any moment? Hard to tell.

                      And now we can circle back to the reality of the rise in cost of living compared to wage growth:

                      • https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/3014700/2024-about-economy-stupid-specifically-inflation/
                      • https://www.nbcwashington.com/inflation-economy-housing-prices-recession-vibes/a-tale-of-2-economies-wages-are-going-up-why-do-we-feel-like-we-cant-afford-anything/3536747/
                      • https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-outlook-economy-hard-landing-jpmorgan-forecast-low-income-wealth-2024-5
                      • https://fortune.com/2024/05/19/economic-outlook-consumer-sentiment-inflation-high-rates-saving-american-dream-spending-labor-market/
                      • https://streetlightnews.org/homelessness-older-adults/
                      • pingveno@lemmy.ml
                        ·
                        1 month ago

                        I'm going to stop arguing since this has nothing to do with a wealth tax. That said, you should reread the source you gave:

                        false https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61943

                        Wind capacity is at an all-time high. There was less wind than usual that year, so less electricity was generated.

                        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
                          hexagon
                          ·
                          1 month ago

                          It has everything to do with your original point that the tax law was rejected because it was a bad idea. What I've demonstrated for you is that the policies that have been implemented don't actually work any better than the rejected tax law in accomplishing their stated goals.

                          Wind capacity is at an all-time high. There was less wind than usual that year, so less electricity was generated.

                          very clearly showing there's no tangible increase in capacity, with it decreasing slightly in 2023

                          Show

                          Again, here's what we see in a country with a functioning government that's able to pass effective policies. World wind report shows that China's wind capacity is now more than the US, EU and UK combined. Meanwhile, the US installed less than 1/2 of what it did 2 years ago, and lowest level since 2014.

                          https://gwec.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GWR-2024_digital-version_final.pdf

                          • pingveno@lemmy.ml
                            ·
                            1 month ago

                            You're confusing capacity factor and capacity. Take a look at both graphs in that document, including the one that shows a steadily increasing capacity. It's the graph you apparently cut out of the above image, can't miss it!

                            • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
                              hexagon
                              ·
                              1 month ago

                              I'm not confusing anything. I'm pointing out that the actual tangible change in electricity production is effectively non existent. The increase in overall capacity is not actually very large, and that's why the capacity factor is effectively flat. Again, compare the increase in capacity in US with the increase in capacity in China to see what actual progress looks like. It's incredible to me that you're incapable of accepting what's happening.

                              • pingveno@lemmy.ml
                                ·
                                1 month ago

                                The increase in overall capacity is not actually very large, and that’s why the capacity factor is effectively flat.

                                Capacity and capacity factor are not connected. You could have one wind turbine or a thousand and they would tend to have a similar capacity factor, all else being equal. If you need another illustration of this, consider this table of China's stats, which includes the capacity factor. It stays steady at around 20% in a time period where capacity has increased by a factor of over 300.

                                • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
                                  hexagon
                                  ·
                                  1 month ago

                                  You're right, but steady capacity factor with the total capacity doubling every year is a very different situation from what you see in US where it took a whole decade to double, you get that right?