The Collective Good

[Neo Deist]

As of 2016, the USA has a combined household wealth of 84.9 trillion dollars (84,900,000,000,000). As of the same year, there are ~324,000,000 people living in the USA. If that money was handed out evenly, every single person would make $262,000 and some change!

If everyone paid 10% tax on that $262k, the government would make 8.49 trillion per year, and could pay down the current debt in less than 3 years!

If everyone paid 20% tax on that $262k, not only would the government be able to pay off the debt in 3 years, but every single person could have 100% healthcare at a cost of $3.3 trillion per year!

At 20% tax rate, you would still have $207k per year!

The rich will say HELL NO to this type of system, while the middle class and poor say HELL YES.

I am well aware that there is a lot more to it than that...but I find it fascinating to think about.

 

[Quetzal]

As of 2016, the USA has a combined household wealth of 84.9 trillion dollars (84,900,000,000,000). As of the same year, there are ~324,000,000 people living in the USA. If that money was handed out evenly, every single person would make $262,000 and some change!

If everyone paid 10% tax on that $262k, the government would make 8.49 trillion per year, and could pay down the current debt in less than 3 years!

If everyone paid 20% tax on that $262k, not only would the government be able to pay off the debt in 3 years, but every single person could have 100% healthcare at a cost of $3.3 trillion per year!

At 20% tax rate, you would still have $207k per year!

The rich will say HELL NO to this type of system, while the middle class and poor say HELL YES.

I am well aware that there is a lot more to it than that...but I find it fascinating to think about.

I really like this idea, where did you pull your info from?

 

[jeager106]

Why am I so poor?

 

[Neo Deist]

I really like this idea, where did you pull your info from?

TIME magazine did an article on the combined US wealth.
The US Census Bureau tracks the population.

From there it was just math.

 

[Timothy Bryce]

Culturally, I think the US and most of the West is far too geared towards an attitude of "undercut your equals and step on those below you" to ever move in a more financially equitable direction.

In fact, in the old eastern bloc countries, that attitude is even worse.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

As of 2016, the USA has a combined household wealth of 84.9 trillion dollars (84,900,000,000,000). As of the same year, there are ~324,000,000 people living in the USA. If that money was handed out evenly, every single person would make $262,000 and some change!

If everyone paid 10% tax on that $262k, the government would make 8.49 trillion per year, and could pay down the current debt in less than 3 years!

If everyone paid 20% tax on that $262k, not only would the government be able to pay off the debt in 3 years, but every single person could have 100% healthcare at a cost of $3.3 trillion per year!

At 20% tax rate, you would still have $207k per year!

The rich will say HELL NO to this type of system, while the middle class and poor say HELL YES.

I am well aware that there is a lot more to it than that...but I find it fascinating to think about.

I think you're making a mistake here: you start out talking about wealth, which is the value of property owned, and then treat it as if it were income, which it is not. If you convert wealth to money, you lose its ability to underwrite loans and fund future income.

If I remember correctly, when nonprofits (such as my university's foundation) get bequests, the nonprofit generally relies on investing that bequest to generate income; I think 5 percent a year is the typical figure assumed. If you have $262,000 of wealth invested to earn dividends or interest, you can expect income of about $13,100 a year.

If instead you convert that wealth into cash, you'd better re-invest most of it unless you plan on going broke shortly.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

In fact, in the old eastern bloc countries, that attitude is even worse.

Despite the rhetoric, the communist bloc nations never practiced anything other than what you described here.

 

[Maponos]

The money I earn is mine and no one else's. The only way I want my taxes to be spent is in the form of the physical improvement of the community and/or nature, the promotion of culture or the advance of science. I also expect total transparency to see exactly what my tax dollars are being spent on.

 

[Neo Deist]

I think you're making a mistake here: you start out talking about wealth, which is the value of property owned, and then treat it as if it were income, which it is not. If you convert wealth to money, you lose its ability to underwrite loans and fund future income.

If I remember correctly, when nonprofits (such as my university's foundation) get bequests, the nonprofit generally relies on investing that bequest to generate income; I think 5 percent a year is the typical figure assumed. If you have $262,000 of wealth invested to earn dividends or interest, you can expect income of about $13,100 a year.

If instead you convert that wealth into cash, you'd better re-invest most of it unless you plan on going broke shortly.

Allow me to quote the last sentence from my OP: "I am well aware that there is a lot more to it than that...but I find it fascinating to think about."

 

[Laika]

Culturally, I think the US and most of the West is far too geared towards an attitude of "undercut your equals and step on those below you" to ever move in a more financially equitable direction.

In fact, in the old eastern bloc countries, that attitude is even worse.

Despite the rhetoric, the communist bloc nations never practiced anything other than what you described here.

May be of interest:

Ayn Stalin: Soviet Inequalities In 1929-1954

 

[tytlyf]

The rich will say HELL NO to this type of system, while the middle class and poor say HELL YES.

The rich won't like it because they don't want competition. And the fact that the money should be funneled to the top for them anyways. Their plan to eliminate the middle class is full under way. That's why I don't vote republican.

 

[1137]

Those statistics are mind blowing, and I'm hard to shock lol. 200,000 is more than I can even imagine with combined income and eventually stealing all my children's paychecks on top of that!