I thought I would start a new thread on this topic. I hope discussion won't drift onto "tax brackets" because that's not what this is. This would be a regulation, like the minimum wage. But it wouldn't be a fixed value, it would be a ratio, based on the lowest paid worker at a given organization.
Basic rundown....
I've read that in California, 50% of the government tax revenue comes from the taxes paid by the richest 1%, ie. CEOs and executives of big corporations. Elsewhere the percentage of tax revenue coming from the super rich is nearly as high.
http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html
The government has trouble stabilizing its tax revenues because of the volatile nature of these super-rich people that pay such a large portion of it. What would happen if the government introduced a law that eliminated the need to tax the rich, by redistributing the wealth using a "maximum wage ratio" ?
I propose a maximum annualized wage (including the value of all basic pay, bonuses, commissions, contracts, shares, etc.) earned by an employee, owner, shareholder, etc. of a company that is equal to 5-times the annualized income of the lowest paid worker at a company.
Case 1: If a company is a sole proprietorship, the annualized income can be as high as you want.
Case 2: If a company is a partnership, the annualized income of one partner cannot be more than 5-times larger than the income of the other partner.
Case 3: If a company employs 10000 people, and the lowest paid worker makes $10/hr (temp, contract, or full-time), or $20,000 annualized, then the top executive cannot make more than $100,000 (cumulative from pay, shares, bonuses, etc).
Case 4: If a business owner is a foreigner who lives abroad, then the same rule applies. The annualized amount of fungible assets paid to that owner could not be larger than 5-times the amount transferred to the lowest paid worker.
Case 5: If a business owner wants to start more than one business, then this might be a way to bypass the limitation. Each business would then pay a certain amount as annual yields, not exceeding the 5-fold maximum wage limit.
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Cons:
a. that this would require a layer of oversight by the government,
b. businesspeople are obviously going to look for loopholes to increase their wealth beyond this limit, such as by charging personal expenses to the business without giving their employees the same right.
Pros:
a. I see this as a fair way to distribute wealth to a much larger number of people and thereby stabilizing the government's tax revenues.
b. there would be more money in the hands of a larger population to spend on basic goods & services, thereby stabilizing the economy.
Opinions?
Basic rundown....
I've read that in California, 50% of the government tax revenue comes from the taxes paid by the richest 1%, ie. CEOs and executives of big corporations. Elsewhere the percentage of tax revenue coming from the super rich is nearly as high.
http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html
The government has trouble stabilizing its tax revenues because of the volatile nature of these super-rich people that pay such a large portion of it. What would happen if the government introduced a law that eliminated the need to tax the rich, by redistributing the wealth using a "maximum wage ratio" ?
I propose a maximum annualized wage (including the value of all basic pay, bonuses, commissions, contracts, shares, etc.) earned by an employee, owner, shareholder, etc. of a company that is equal to 5-times the annualized income of the lowest paid worker at a company.
Case 1: If a company is a sole proprietorship, the annualized income can be as high as you want.
Case 2: If a company is a partnership, the annualized income of one partner cannot be more than 5-times larger than the income of the other partner.
Case 3: If a company employs 10000 people, and the lowest paid worker makes $10/hr (temp, contract, or full-time), or $20,000 annualized, then the top executive cannot make more than $100,000 (cumulative from pay, shares, bonuses, etc).
Case 4: If a business owner is a foreigner who lives abroad, then the same rule applies. The annualized amount of fungible assets paid to that owner could not be larger than 5-times the amount transferred to the lowest paid worker.
Case 5: If a business owner wants to start more than one business, then this might be a way to bypass the limitation. Each business would then pay a certain amount as annual yields, not exceeding the 5-fold maximum wage limit.
==================================
==================================
Cons:
a. that this would require a layer of oversight by the government,
b. businesspeople are obviously going to look for loopholes to increase their wealth beyond this limit, such as by charging personal expenses to the business without giving their employees the same right.
Pros:
a. I see this as a fair way to distribute wealth to a much larger number of people and thereby stabilizing the government's tax revenues.
b. there would be more money in the hands of a larger population to spend on basic goods & services, thereby stabilizing the economy.
Opinions?