Steve’s Barkin; Taxes, let’s make a deal

 Let’s tax the rich! After all they have all the money. 

 Let’s tax the poor! After all they get most of the benefits. 

 The first sentence to the people who suggest it , want to tax stock assets because it right now is going through the roof. The thinking goes that as these assets (stocks) make the rich owners the owners of almost 99% of all the wealth in this country. The problem with this thinking is the value stocks ( and even real estate) can decrease just as fast. That is one reason we can not tax certain assets that appreciate as if the appreciation is income. Appreciation is also a slippery slope, what happens if the government needs more revenue and taxes the appreciation of a persons home, like local governments some time do( they call it a real estate assessment tax).

 Now if you think that no one in their right mind would tax the poor, think again. One of the plans to correct Social Security crises is to add 2 % on to fica which is Social Security and Medicare tax. Now there is no getting away from paying this tax so if your poor working stiff you currently lose 8 %3/4 of your pay to then lose another 2% is totally wrong. Whether it’s to sure up Social Security or to boost Social Security income of the poorest recipient is wrong.

Now I’m not sure if it’s not done now( I’m not up to date on the tax code) but stock options should be be taxed at what the price buyer agrees to pay if he or she picks up the option and what the price is when the option is picked up. If you were to win a prize on the television show let’s make a deal you have pay the retail price of the item as if it were income. Well if it’s good for the poor contestant it should be good enough for the winners of stock options.