Jan. 14, 2021 - Epoch Times
09:50
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| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| That's fine, but I'm asking you about the wealthy and how much higher you would make it. | |
| You said you don't agree with 70%. | |
| What would your number be? | |
| In the campaign in 2016, we talked about 52%. | |
| All right, so 52%. | |
| So would you be willing to pay 52% on the money that you made? | |
| You can volunteer. | |
| You can send a check. | |
| You can volunteer, too. | |
| We have a... | |
| But you suggested that that's what everybody Martha, why don't you give? | |
| You make more money than I do. | |
| I didn't suggest a wealth tax. | |
| And she's not running for president. | |
| Oh, a wealth tax, is it? | |
| Or, as a little bit Warren puts it, a two-cent tax. | |
| You've got to pitch in two cents. | |
| A two-cent wealth tax. | |
| Two cents! | |
| Yes, that is a two cent tax. | |
| All I'm asking for is a little slice from the tippy, tippy top. | |
| Sigh, been there, done that. | |
| Recall the former president of France, Francois Hollande, who initiated a wealth tax for those at the very tippy, tippy top? | |
| And the French government wants the rich to help pay more to help the sagging economy, so it has now passed a millionaire tax. | |
| While the France president, French's president rather, introduced this idea, plans to sign it into law. | |
| And after they passed the tax, it was so excessive, a French court made them amend it. | |
| With the top French court having thrown out a proposed super tax on the rich, the Paris government is looking at how it can be changed. | |
| The law has to be redrafted in response to the Constitutional Council's ruling that a 75% tax rate for those earning more than 1 million euros per year was unfair. | |
| Reportedly, an amended tax will be introduced at the latest in next year's budget. | |
| Well, what happened? | |
| Well, the first thing to understand is that this wealth tax is a tax on net worth every single year. | |
| That would be an annual tax of 2% on wealth over $50 million or two cents of every dollar. | |
| Now, in practice, this plan is much more complicated and costly. | |
| It would raise over $200 billion a year, according to our economists. | |
| Taxpayers would have to estimate the current value of everything from cars and real estate to art and private companies and, yes, most European countries. | |
| have abandoned wealth taxes because they raised less than expected revenue. | |
| And it was extremely difficult to administer. | |
| The paperwork involved for ministers, imagine in France you've already got so much to do, and here's another one for them. | |
| There you can actually see the form they're filling out. | |
| Now that includes things like, what is the value of your first and second home? | |
| But also, what about the art objects inside them, and even the bric-a-brac? | |
| I kind of did a double take on that. | |
| Every single thing. | |
| Where did you buy them? | |
| How much are they worth? | |
| That's the same for cars as well. | |
| So, what happened? | |
| This tax is an exception. | |
| I want to remind you, or give you a scoop. | |
| It will no longer exist after January 1, 2015. | |
| In 2013, the tax generated 300 million euros. | |
| That's only 0.5% of France's overall income taxes. | |
| The French government said 470 businesses were meant to pay it, as well as about 1,000 people earning more than 1 million. | |
| Artists and football clubs hope to be exempted. | |
| Some threatened to strike if they were forced to chip in. | |
| Last year, French football clubs lost about 40 million euros. | |
| This year, their results will be in the red again. | |
| One reason for that is the 75% tax. | |
| You mean the rich didn't roll over and just play dead after the passage of the wealth tax? | |
| After the super tax was announced, the government was accused of shooting itself in the foot by risking an exodus of high-profile personalities. | |
| Business leaders expressed fears that investors would pull out Of France. | |
| France's richest man, Bernard Arnault, took out Belgian nationality, and actor Gerard Depardieu also moved across the border to Belgium before obtaining Russian citizenship. | |
| High-earning French footballers threatened strike action, while league bosses warned they would no longer be able to attract world-class players." Worse, as mentioned, the tax did not produce the anticipated revenue. | |
| Finance ministry studies showed that despite all the publicity, the sums obtained from the super tax were meager, standing at 260 million euros in 2013, which is around 289 million dollars, And 160 million euros in 2014, which is about $178 million, and affecting 1,000 staff in 470 companies. | |
| Over the same period, the budget deficit soared to 84.7 billion euros. | |
| That's around $93 billion, end of quote. | |
| And the wealth tax hasn't fared much better in other European countries that tried and ended the wealth tax. | |
| Wealth tax supporters do not seem concerned about the likely damage to economic growth, but they should know that from a practical standpoint, wealth taxes in other countries have raised little money and have been a beast to administer. | |
| More than a dozen European countries have used wealth taxes, but nearly all of these countries repealed them, including Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Sweden. | |
| Wealth taxes survive only in Norway, Spain, and Switzerland." Now, can we take a peek at the lifestyle of some of these rich socialists? | |
| Let's take Francois Hollande, who on television made it clear how he felt about those who live at the very tippy, tippy, tippy top. | |
| And this goes back to a moment in Hollande's political career when he said on TV, I dislike the rich. | |
| But does Mr. | |
| Hollande dislike the rich lifestyle? | |
| Becky, there's something of a scandal brewing I'm hearing as well at the Elysee Palace. | |
| Tell us more. | |
| Well, yeah, perhaps a little bit of fun. | |
| Perhaps not. | |
| This is what is being tagged coiffure gate. | |
| The Elysee spokesman has confirmed to us the existence of a hairdresser paid almost 10,000 euros or over $10,000 a month by the public purse. | |
| Fear not, though, it seems the president's staff can justify the salary, incorporated as it is, we are told, into their operating costs. | |
| So, confirming once again, this hairdresser has a salary of, I think it's something like $10,991 per year. | |
| And 71 cents if you were doing the exchange rate today on the Euro. | |
| And listen, what the Elyse Palace tell us is that the President is out and about a lot and quite frankly needs to look the part. | |
| Hey, hey, a socialist has to look good, right? | |
| Now, in addition to Mr. | |
| Alon's $15,000 a month pension, let's take a look at some of his other assets, shall we? | |
| As well as the spacious Paris apartment he shares with his lover. | |
| Olan owns a palatial villa in the prestigious hilltop Cannes suburb where the artist Pablo Picasso used to live. | |
| It is valued by the official journal at 800,000 euros, which is $882,000 U.S., and is a short drive from Olan's two flats in the Cannes. | |
| They are each prize at about 230,000 euros or 253,000 U.S. and 140,000 euros or 154,000 U.S. End of quote. | |
| Just what is it with socialists and three homes? | |
| What a wonderful country we have. | |
| The best-known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. | |
| What did I miss here? | |
| Vermont newspapers reported the senator had dropped just under $600,000 for a third home. | |
| Some Twitter users said based on his campaign platform and political values of democratic socialism, it was a hypocritical move. | |
| Then the headlines started rolling in. | |
| Which brings us to Bernie Sanders' most formidable surrogate, Michael, I'm not in the top 1% more. | |
| Net worth, $50 million. | |
| I need you to admit the bleeding obvious. | |
| I need you to sit here and say, I'm in the 1%. | |
| Well, I can't, because I'm not. | |
| You are, then. | |
| No, I'm not. | |
| I'm not. | |
| You're not in the 1%? | |
| Of course I'm not. | |
| How can I be in the 1%? | |
| This $2 million home on Torch Lake is owned by filmmaker Michael Moore and his wife of 22 years, Kathleen Glenn. | |
| The new court documents reveal Moore and his now ex-wife shared properties in Michigan and New York. | |
| The Detroit News reports the couple owned nine total. | |
| Are you kidding me? | |
| But hey, money is overrated, right? | |
| Money isn't all, you know, Jim. | |
| Not when you got it. | |
| Or as writer Somerset Maugham put it, money is the sixth sense, without which full use of the other five is not possible, especially if you want to buy three homes. | |
| I'm Larry Elder, and we've got a country to save. |
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