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Farewell Napoli

slick
edited May 2013 in Fund Discussions
Today on my cruise we stopped in the port of Napoli Italy where not only I learned how beautiful a city it was but that we as Americans are very lucky to have the tax rates we do. Even though we think they are too high, Here the average tax rate is 55%, with 65% - 70% for businesses. I am doing my best to shop and get the European economy going, but I came back on board ship glad to pay in taxes that I do in the U.S. Now its onto Monte Carlo for the Grand Prix where I will spend some more. Chiao.

Comments

  • Soupkitchen
    It's funny that you mention Naples and taxes in the same breath. There is a huge underground economy in Naples where no taxes are paid. Well, at least not to the government...Avoiding taxes is as popular as soccer in Italy.
  • STB65
    I am recurrently happy that the embryo static line (thanks, Dennis Miller, one of your best all-time comments) dropped me off in the US of A. Admittedly, we have the best government money can buy (while many other countries have government purchased at lower prices, but bought just as completely), but it's still a great place to be a citizen, so long as you are healthy. (If unhealthy, maybe I'd rather be in France.)
    I may not smile when I pay my taxes, but the price is very cheap for what I get. The price was probably about right before the first Reagan tax cut.
  • MikeMMikeM
    Maximum tax rates are a funny thing. Nobody really pays them. If you look back to the 1950's and 60's, max fed tax rates were over 90%. Were the high earners who were at the max bracket really paying 90% taxes? Of course not. Loop holes were put in place. In 2013, the max rate will be 39.6, up from 35% which was in place since 2003. I'm guessing there are at least as many loop holes as there were in the 50's and 60's, so what rate do the high earners really pay? Who knows. Probably the same as me.

    Pre-Reagan years, max tax rates were 70%. By the time he ended his two terms they were 38%. There has been a lot of push back on raising taxes the last couple years, but my goodness, they are only being raised to Reagan era percentages.

    But STB65, you hit the nail on the head. There isn't another country I would rather live in.

    Here is a link showing tax rates over our history. I thought the huge differences in max tax rates over the years very interesting.

    http://taxfoundation.org/article/us-federal-individual-income-tax-rates-history-1913-2013-nominal-and-inflation-adjusted-brackets
  • InvestorInvestor
    edited May 2013
    Reply to @MikeM: I hear that at 90% tx bracket there was only one person at the time. It was for Rockefeller. Even that did not mean he was paying 90% of his income.

    Update: I misremembered. The Rockefeller top rate was 79% at Roosevelt administration.

    http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/19/taxes-bailouts-class-opinions-columnists-warfare.html

    "Roosevelt's 1935 tax increase raised the top rate to 79%, but also sharply raised the threshold to which the top rate applied to $5 million ($76 million in today's dollars). According to historian Mark Leff, there was only one person in the United States who paid even a penny of taxes at the new top rate for the next three years: John D. Rockefeller."
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