Posts Made By: Mel Maki

Originally Posted by David Cotterell

"Recall that America’s 704 billionaires have increased their wealth by $1.7 trillion since the start of the pandemic in February 2020, while most Americans have struggled to make ends meet. That means the billionaires could theoretically pay for everything Joe Biden and House Democrats have proposed — from childcare to climate measures — and still be as wealthy as they were at the start of the pandemic.
Elon Musk’s pandemic gains alone could cover the cost of tuition for 5.5 million community college students and feed 29 million low-income public-school kids, while still leaving Musk richer than he was before Covid.
A billionaire tax is a no-brainer."   Robert Reich


And trickle down has never worked.  Ever.  Anywhere.   The wealth goes up and stays there.   "Job-creators" indeed.

Then there are the corporations who don't pay a single dime of taxes. Their pre-tax income is the first number after their name, in Millions of dollars...

Advanced Micro Devices $1,208.00 - 0.0% Computers, office equip, software, data
Akamai Technologies $40.00 $−2.00 −4.4% Computers, office equip, software, data
Albemarle $42.00 $0.00 −0.3% Chemicals
American Electric Power $2,163.00 $−138.00 −6.4% Utilities, gas and electric
Archer Daniels Midland $438.00 $−164.00 −37.4% Food & beverages & tobacco
Ball $193.00 $−33.00 −17.1% Miscellaneous manufacturing
Booz Allen Hamilton Holding $561.00 $−3.00 −0.5% Computers, office equip, software, data
Cabot Oil & Gas $240.00 $−32.00 −13.2% Oil, gas & pipelines
Charter Communications $3,680.00 $−7.00 −0.2% Telecommunications
CMS Energy $885.00 $−35.00 −4.0% Utilities, gas and electric
Community Health Systems $323.00 $−1.00 −0.3% Health care
Consolidated Edison $1,227.00 $−2.00 −0.2% Utilities, gas and electric
Danaher $1,583.00 $−321.00 −20.3% Miscellaneous manufacturing
Dexcom $265.00 $0.00 0.0% Pharmaceuticals & medical products
Dish Network $2,532.00 $−231.00 −9.1% Telecommunications
DTE Energy $1,531.00 $−247.00 −16.1% Utilities, gas and electric
Duke Energy $826.00 $−281.00 −34.0% Utilities, gas and electric
Ecolab $95.00 $−50.00 −52.6% Chemicals
Evergy $722.00 $−27.00 −3.7% Utilities, gas and electric
FedEx $1,218.00 $−230.00 −18.9% Miscellaneous services
FirstEnergy $1,108.00 $−14.00 −1.3% Utilities, gas and electric
Fiserv $1,100.00 $−25.00 −2.3% Financial data services
Hologic $887.00 $−62.00 −7.0% Health care
Howmet Aerospace $86.00 $−2.00 −2.3% Miscellaneous manufacturing
HP $861.00 $−24.00 −2.8% Computers, office equip, software, data
Interpublic Group $284.00 $−53.00 −18.5% Miscellaneous services
Jacobs Engineering Group $213.00 $−37.00 −17.4% Engineering & construction
Kansas City Southern $327.00 $−2.00 −0.6% Transportation
Kinder Morgan $654.00 $−20.00 −3.1% Oil, gas & pipelines
Lincoln National $423.00 $−61.00 −14.4% Financial
Michaels $322.00 $−11.00 −3.5% Retail & wholesale trade
Mohawk Industries $87.00 $−34.00 −38.9% Miscellaneous manufacturing
Nike $2,873.00 $−109.00 −3.8% Miscellaneous manufacturing
Nucor $1,220.00 $−177.00 −14.5% Metals & metal products
Owens & Minor $74.00 $−4.00 −6.0% Retail & wholesale trade
Penske Automotive Group $505.00 $−78.00 −15.5% Motor vehicles and parts
PPL $878.00 $−9.00 −1.0% Utilities, gas and electric
Qurate Retail Group $687.00 $−8.00 −1.2% Internet services & retailing
Salesforce.com $2,630.00 $−12.00 −0.5% Computers, office equip, software, data
Sanmina-SCI $95.00 $−1.00 −1.0% Computers, office equip, software, data
Seaboard $136.00 $−50.00 −36.8% Food & beverages & tobacco
Sealed Air $323.00 $−14.00 −4.4% Miscellaneous manufacturing
Telephone & Data Systems $284.00 $−175.00 −61.6% Telecommunications
Textron $278.00 $−1.00 −0.4% Aerospace & defense
Treehouse Foods $8.00 $−96.00 −1,167.1% Food, beverages, tobacco
Tutor Perini $96.00 $−36.00 −37.7% Engineering & construction
Tyler Technologies $176.00 $−11.00 −6.0% Computers, office equip, software, data
UGI $420.00 $−85.00 −20.2% Utilities, gas and electric
Unum Group $923.00 $−98.00 −10.7% Financial
Verisign $447.00 $−124.00 −27.7% Computers, office equip, software, data
Voya Financial $195.00 $−9.00 −4.6% Financial
Westlake Chemical $227.00 $−208.00 −91.6% Chemicals
Williams $278.00 $−29.00 −10.4% Oil, gas & pipelines
Xcel Energy $1,465.00 $−13.00 −0.9% Utilities, gas and electric
Xilinx $140.00 $−2.00 −1.5% Computers, office equip, software, data
Total, All 55 Companies $40,482.00 $−3,497.00 −8.6%


There's no one coming after your TV set, Richard.  Taxing all the above won't cost you or anyone else in the middle class a dime.  But it will improve your life...

And they come after Heather's TV at their peril.  Feisty one, my partner...

Dave

Originally Posted by James Brown

Hi Jim:

Shocking, but I agree with Rich in the other thread.  The kind of tax Dave seems to be endorsing could wipe out your business.  I am assuming of course, and maybe I am wrong, but I am assuming you could not afford (from a cash-flow perspective) to cut the government a check for 20% of the value of your shop annually, or even once?  At least not while still employing your employees and providing top-shelf goods and services to your customers?  Think what this sort of tax would do to farmers!

I get it that you are not a billionaire.  You are not silly enough however, to think that the government stops at taxing billionaires in this new fashion.  Restraint is not the government's thing... When they go for millionaires next, all of us small, medium, and local business owners are in the crosshairs.

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

I can understand the consternation on both sides of the issue. I don't like the Democratic party's position on Wall Street which goes something along these lines: 50% of the population doesn't have investments so we need to be sensitive to their needs. But what they ignore is that the other 50% does have investments in the form of 401ks or IRA's that likely do invest in equities and mutual funds that do the same. I'd argue that the latter 50% is the more productive 50% of the country so is it their obligation through their taxes to take care of the unproductive 50% of the country? And even more so at their retirement?
That said, I do want to comment on corporate greed. Example: the insurance industry in California. Many won't write homeowners insurance in the state any longer, due to wildfires attendant with global warming. Rich and company may not believe in it but the insurance carriers sure do. Basically what's happened is many homeowners in the state are being forced into what is called the California Fair Plan which is a high risk premium for fire insurance in the state. So, many homeowners have to pay TWO insurance premiums every year to insure their homes: one premium for fire and a separate premium for liability and property insurance. Meanwhile, insurance companies get two premiums instead of one.  In 2018, a particularly bad fire year in the state, the companies lost 18 billion. Seems like a lot. But even so, they took in 360 billion from the state in the same year. Many of the more well known ones have advertising budgets in the billions/year. A good portion of the latter could go to reducing the costs of providing insurance to homeowners who have to have it. Or, it could be taxed at some level to provide some funding for the other 50% noted above...