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As usual, the grubers are completely lost when it comes to Economics, and history.
We once tried a tax solely on the rich, the Luxury Tax, signed by GHW Bush in Nov 1991.
It was a disaster. The rich do buy alot of nice things, which stimulates the economy. After the new Luxury Tax, they massively cut back on those purchases.
It not only failed to meet its revenue numbers, it caused a ripple effect in terms of job losses on the goods targeted by the tax. Middle class workers and small businesses people who dealt in building/moving/selling/etc the yachts, cars, jewelry, etc were suffering, despite "the rich" being the sole targets of the tax.
Here, take a look:
In November 1991, The United States Congress enacted a luxury tax and was signed by the former President George H.W. Bush. The goal of the tax was to generate additional revenues to reduce the federal budget deficit. This tax was levied on material goods such as watches, expensive furs, boats, yachts, private jet planes, jewelry and expensive cars. Congress enacted a 10 percent luxury surcharge tax on boats over $100,000, cars over $30,000, aircraft over $250,000, and furs and jewelry over $10,000. The federal government estimated that it would raise $9 billion in excess revenues over the following five-year period. However, only two years after its imposition, in August 1993, the Congress decided to eliminate the “luxury tax” since it did not achieve its main objective. However, the luxury automobile tax remained in effect until 2002. A luxury tax still applies in some states for products deemed unnecessary or nonessential, a category in which non-luxury products often fall into.
Source:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxury_tax
Remember guys, learn history, and then avoid repeating failed policies enacted previously.
We once tried a tax solely on the rich, the Luxury Tax, signed by GHW Bush in Nov 1991.
It was a disaster. The rich do buy alot of nice things, which stimulates the economy. After the new Luxury Tax, they massively cut back on those purchases.
It not only failed to meet its revenue numbers, it caused a ripple effect in terms of job losses on the goods targeted by the tax. Middle class workers and small businesses people who dealt in building/moving/selling/etc the yachts, cars, jewelry, etc were suffering, despite "the rich" being the sole targets of the tax.
Here, take a look:
In November 1991, The United States Congress enacted a luxury tax and was signed by the former President George H.W. Bush. The goal of the tax was to generate additional revenues to reduce the federal budget deficit. This tax was levied on material goods such as watches, expensive furs, boats, yachts, private jet planes, jewelry and expensive cars. Congress enacted a 10 percent luxury surcharge tax on boats over $100,000, cars over $30,000, aircraft over $250,000, and furs and jewelry over $10,000. The federal government estimated that it would raise $9 billion in excess revenues over the following five-year period. However, only two years after its imposition, in August 1993, the Congress decided to eliminate the “luxury tax” since it did not achieve its main objective. However, the luxury automobile tax remained in effect until 2002. A luxury tax still applies in some states for products deemed unnecessary or nonessential, a category in which non-luxury products often fall into.
Source:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxury_tax
Remember guys, learn history, and then avoid repeating failed policies enacted previously.
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