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Comment on What is the argument for making poor/working class folks shoulder the burden of taxes?

Something I never see mentioned is the risk of “brain drain”. If you tax the rich too heavily, there’s a possibility that they’ll just move to another country with lower taxes, taking their companies (and jobs) with them.

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Waryle@jlai.lu ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
That’s not brain drain. Brain drain is when high qualified people leave their country, mostly because of the lack of infrastructures costing them opportunities for studying or working in their respective field.

What you’re talking about is capital flight. This is an issue that is systematically raised as a counter-argument by liberals in debates on taxation. The problem is that it is seriously overestimated:

Leaving a country is a lot more complicated than it sounds: you lose your family, your friends, your culture, your habits. Many millionaires who leave their country end up coming back after a few years.

You can’t relocate your real estate investments.

Going abroad doesn’t exempt you from paying taxes (especially exit taxes).

A country that wishes to do so can prohibit the relocation of a profitable company, or even nationalize it.

Many rich people who threaten to leave if taxes are raised end up doing the math: if there’s a profitable business, they’ll stay. And in a country that finances its infrastructure soundly and has a good distribution of wealth, there’s profitable business to be had.
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- GrammarPolice@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  
  raised as a counter-argument by liberals in debates on taxation.
  
  Which liberals are defending heavy taxation of the working class?
  
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  - Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Not so much defending heavy taxation on the working class specifically, instead focusing solely on why the wealthy and mega corps have to have a low tax rate
    
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  - Waryle@jlai.lu ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    They don’t
    
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phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Not sure if I agree. If you’d do that you’ll lose CEO’s, not the highly skilled workers that actually do the work…one might wonder howuch would be lost there.

Also, where would they go? Any developed country will have it much, MUCH “worse” for them than the US and the alternative is moving to heavenly places like Russia or China. Good luck with that.

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prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
You’re equating wealth with intelligence. Bad take.

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