Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bernie Fears Some Will Seek to Flee If He Succeeds
Townhall.com ^ | February 19, 2020 | Terry Jeffrey

Posted on 02/19/2020 6:33:15 AM PST by Kaslin

Sen. Bernie Sanders manifestly fears that if he succeeds in becoming president and enacting his economic plan, some Americans may seek to flee the country.

How do we know this?

His plan imposes a severe penalty on anybody who tries to leave to avoid paying his "wealth tax."

"The wealth tax includes a 40 percent exit tax on the net value of all assets under $1 billion and 60 percent over $1 billion for all wealthy individual(s) seeking to expatriate to avoid the tax," it says.

Under the current tax system, the United States does impose an "expatriation tax" on people renouncing their citizenship and leaving the country. But that tax, as explained by Forbes contributor Robert W. Wood, is applied like a capital gains tax on the estimated value of a person's holdings on the day before they leave. Generally, according to the IRS, the top capital gains rate is currently 20% -- although a 28% rate applies to some "collectibles" such as "coins and art."

Sanders obviously does not think even a 28% tax on what you own would be sufficient to deter people from fleeing the new country into which he hopes to "transform" America.

Meanwhile, patriotic Americans who stay in what they know is the greatest country on Earth -- and who work to keep it free during a Sanders reign -- would need to deal with what this self-proclaimed socialist calls a "national wealth registry."

What is that?

It is an IRS-controlled federal database of the things that "wealthy" Americans own and how much the government estimates those things are worth. Sanders believes this registry is needed to carry out his "extreme wealth tax."

After all, the government cannot know who has "extreme wealth" until it has cataloged what people suspected of being wealthy own and has assigned a monetary value to those belongings.

The way Sanders explains it, it is like you die every year and the federal government is enforcing the death tax against you -- again and again and again.

"Under current law, the IRS is already required to assess the net worth of the wealthiest Americans when they pass away, to calculate estate tax liability," says his plan. "A federal wealth tax would require the IRS to make the same assessment on an annual basis for the wealthiest Americans."

"For assets that are difficult to appraise, the Treasury Department would have the option of allowing taxpayers to have appraisals done periodically instead of annually," says the Sanders plan. "The Treasury Department would establish the average rates of appreciation for several classes of assets. Those appraised only every few years would be assumed to appreciate in the intervening years at the average rate established for their designated class."

"In order to ensure that the wealthy are not able to evade the tax, the proposal includes a number of key enforcement policies," says the plan. "First, it would create a national wealth registry and significant additional third party reporting requirements."

What sort of "assets" would this national wealth registry need to include?

What sort of "third party" reporters would the government need to recruit to make sure you had registered all the paintings in your house or rings in your jewelry box -- or the writings you had composed?

Yes, the writings.

The IRS instructions for calculating what you would owe under the current pre-Sanders expatriation tax reminds would-be payers to report their "intangible property."

IRS "Instructions for Form 8854" says "intangible property" includes such things as a "literary, musical or artistic composition." Or a "study," "customer list" or "know-how."

If you were one of the wealthy elitists who owned such things, the Sanders regime would need to have them all in its registry, and you would need to pay an annual tax for continuing to own them.

The main argument Sanders makes for this tax is that it will apply only to those of "extreme wealth." But the short explanation he has posted on his own website demonstrates that "extreme wealth" is an extremely flexible concept.

"It would start with a 1 percent tax on net worth above $32 million for a married couple," says his plan. (It would then escalate to 8% for a married couple with a net worth over $10 billion.)

So, a married couple worth $30 million would not have "extreme wealth."

But then the plan says: "These brackets are halved for singles."

So, a hardworking and imaginative young woman who uses her "know-how" to build a business that creates a hundred new jobs and is worth $17 million does have "extreme wealth."

And that is before you count her $520,000 home, her $32,000 car and the diamond ring her grandmother gave her just before she died.

The Sanders plan boasts it will "cut the wealth of billionaires in half over 15 years." Its strategic goal is for government to take "wealth" away from those who built it or maintain it.

Perhaps if Sanders is elected, he will decide the extremely wealthy includes anybody worth more than a million dollars.

Or a $100,000.

Or who gets up in the morning and goes to work and saves a little from each paycheck.

Maybe he will decide the 8% annual rate should apply to all levels of "wealth."

Remember: He says he is a socialist.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: berniesanders
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-68 next last

1 posted on 02/19/2020 6:33:15 AM PST by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

That National Socialists did this to Jews.


2 posted on 02/19/2020 6:34:18 AM PST by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Feel the Bern.

For the losers that support Bernie, this is all good. For someone like me, it would be the only bright spot in Bernie being elected, seeing wealthy Democrats persecuted.

It wouldn’t make up for the hardship, but it would be one thing to enjoy.


3 posted on 02/19/2020 6:35:42 AM PST by brownsfan (Behold, the power of government cheese.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The Sanders definition of wealthy will soon include anyone earning a non- government paycheck.


4 posted on 02/19/2020 6:38:31 AM PST by KobraKai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

This is the mentality. penalize for leaving in stead of making it so good capital and people want to stay.

On the other hand, bernie might solve our immigration problem. How many are illegally crossing boarders to get into facist comunist countries?

Bernie could make a campaign issue of solving immigration.


5 posted on 02/19/2020 6:38:46 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

He isn’t even elected yet and he’s already building his Berlin Wall...


6 posted on 02/19/2020 6:39:04 AM PST by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Itll take a lot more than A punk like Bernie to chase me out of my country


7 posted on 02/19/2020 6:40:13 AM PST by albie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
GOOD NEWS!!!!

We'll get a border wall!

Building walls is the only thing communists are good at!

8 posted on 02/19/2020 6:42:25 AM PST by null and void (By the pricking of my lungs, Something wicked this way comes ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Think Soviet Union with internal passports and travel restrictions.

Think China with their GREAT LEAP FORWARD (where all their educated people were sent to work on farms or sent to re-education camps)

Think North Korea where the people are reduced to eating bark off of trees.


9 posted on 02/19/2020 6:45:58 AM PST by CIB-173RDABN (I am not an expert in anything, and my opinion is just that, an opinion. I may be wrong.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jewbacca

Let’s not have self pity by comparing ourselves to the Jews. They were quite a minority and had no guns.


10 posted on 02/19/2020 6:46:47 AM PST by dp0622 (Radicals, racists Don't point finger at me I'm a small town white boy Just tryin' to makne ends meet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Wonder what happens when The Commie confiscates the life’s work of elderly men who are not physically disabled yet?


11 posted on 02/19/2020 6:47:05 AM PST by rigelkentaurus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Some will flee?

Gee, Bern...YA THINK?

12 posted on 02/19/2020 6:48:31 AM PST by RoosterRedux
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Values of ‘things’ change, often rapidly. Certain collectibles that were worth 100’s of dollars 10 or 20 years ago are worth 10’s of dollars now. Antique glass and pottery are two items whose value has dropped as fewer younger people are interested in those items.

Who is going to establish the values of those items and continue to keep track of them over time. Sounds like an impossible task. So, of course, the government will establish some sort of bureaucracy that will get it about 25% right and strong arm assessments in their favor to maximize taxes.

A horrible nightmare. The IRS on steroids. Welcome to hell.


13 posted on 02/19/2020 6:50:08 AM PST by John Milner (Marching for Peace is like breathing for food.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: null and void

ha ha! you beat me to it!


14 posted on 02/19/2020 6:51:57 AM PST by edwinland
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin; All

Extra-constitutional govt doing all it can to remain so

Slavery being 100% confiscation, why is > 50% merely, incorrectly, called a ‘*fair* share’? Do the rich utilize (supposed) govt services more? No.

Course, nobody will heed History:
- The 16th will ONLY be vs. ‘the rich’
- The income tax will NEVER get above 7%

soon to be “here’s what Uncle Sugar considers what you *need*, hand over all else”


15 posted on 02/19/2020 6:52:45 AM PST by i_robot73 (One could not count the number of *solutions*, if only govt followed\enforced the Constitution.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

If you want bullets to fly, give it a whirl.


16 posted on 02/19/2020 6:53:50 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (OKSnowflake!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: edwinland; pgyanke
ha ha! you beat me to it!

pgyanke beat me.

17 posted on 02/19/2020 6:55:02 AM PST by null and void (By the pricking of my lungs, Something wicked this way comes ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Wealth tax is an awful idea and completely immoral. The one good thing would be the idea that Bloomcube would pay him 2 billion to get him elected and then would lose another 30-40 billion after two terms of Sanders.


18 posted on 02/19/2020 6:57:08 AM PST by wiseprince
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

This is the EAST GERMAN Stasi state for the US.

Someone— find photo of Eric Honecker the commie GDR last President, and create meme of the photo next to one of
Bernie the Commie......

They look exactly alike. Bernie wants a PRISON forced economy. His whole purpose to provide cover for yet another hitlery bot type and/or a Deep State plant Leftist “candidate” who will be all for our “democracy”-— which is... the mob in the street. And the candidate? Owned by deep state.


19 posted on 02/19/2020 6:59:00 AM PST by John S Mosby (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wiseprince
Wealth tax is an awful idea and completely immoral.

It is not as immoral as the income tax. The only moral tax is an import tariff.

20 posted on 02/19/2020 6:59:43 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-68 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson