You missed a very important one, fix the main reason billionaires don’t pay any tax:
Using your unrealised gains (e.g. shares) as collatoral to take out loans should be considered realising those gains and thus subject to capital gains tax
And while we’re at it, let’s take into account the total wealth of your stock holdings when you realize gains. There’s no reason poor and middle Americans should pay the same tax on their capital gains as billionaires.
Why stop there? Why keep the stock market at all? It’s only real purpose is for the rich to play games with their wealth, to distribute wealth towards themselves, etc. People shouldn’t be making a living off of speculative investment at all. Jobs should contribute to society. Owning is not a job.
That’s an interesting idea. I’ve found personally that every time I’ve worked for a publically traded company I’ve hated it because everything is just about increasing share price no matter what. OTOH I think investment is very useful for progress though… I’m not sure how investment would work without ownership
every time I’ve worked for a publically traded company I’ve hated it because everything is just about increasing share price no matter what.
This matches my experience quite well. I’m currently working at a place that isn’t traded publicly for the first time ever, and it is significantly better. Granted, it isn’t perfect, I still have plenty of criticisms that are separate issues. And many of those issues could be solved/lessened by workplace democracy, but that’s a different conversation.
OTOH I think investment is very useful for progress though… I’m not sure how investment would work without ownership
End goal would be at most investment works through loans. Somebody has a business and wants to expand, or wants to start a new one? Get some loans, and the interest is how you would “invest”. I am sure there would be loopholes around this to end up with lots of stupidity, but it would be a better system.
It would be a lot slower growth though. And IMO that’s a good thing given that the planet is on fire. Policies and institutional changes that will lessen our impact on the environment is a good thing. We ultimately need de-growth to an extent, and slower growth at a minimum.
The bigger issue here is how to abolish a stock market. When investors catch wind of this happening, they’ll sell as hard and fast as possible, and move their wealth to overseas stock markets. A slow and steady abolishment would probably make it a bit better, but it’s probably worth a scientific study or twenty to look into the long term effects/potential solutions for this.
You missed a very important one, fix the main reason billionaires don’t pay any tax:
Using your unrealised gains (e.g. shares) as collatoral to take out loans should be considered realising those gains and thus subject to capital gains tax
And while we’re at it, let’s take into account the total wealth of your stock holdings when you realize gains. There’s no reason poor and middle Americans should pay the same tax on their capital gains as billionaires.
Oh god yes
Why stop there? Why keep the stock market at all? It’s only real purpose is for the rich to play games with their wealth, to distribute wealth towards themselves, etc. People shouldn’t be making a living off of speculative investment at all. Jobs should contribute to society. Owning is not a job.
That’s an interesting idea. I’ve found personally that every time I’ve worked for a publically traded company I’ve hated it because everything is just about increasing share price no matter what. OTOH I think investment is very useful for progress though… I’m not sure how investment would work without ownership
This matches my experience quite well. I’m currently working at a place that isn’t traded publicly for the first time ever, and it is significantly better. Granted, it isn’t perfect, I still have plenty of criticisms that are separate issues. And many of those issues could be solved/lessened by workplace democracy, but that’s a different conversation.
End goal would be at most investment works through loans. Somebody has a business and wants to expand, or wants to start a new one? Get some loans, and the interest is how you would “invest”. I am sure there would be loopholes around this to end up with lots of stupidity, but it would be a better system.
It would be a lot slower growth though. And IMO that’s a good thing given that the planet is on fire. Policies and institutional changes that will lessen our impact on the environment is a good thing. We ultimately need de-growth to an extent, and slower growth at a minimum.
The bigger issue here is how to abolish a stock market. When investors catch wind of this happening, they’ll sell as hard and fast as possible, and move their wealth to overseas stock markets. A slow and steady abolishment would probably make it a bit better, but it’s probably worth a scientific study or twenty to look into the long term effects/potential solutions for this.