r/NoStupidQuestions 1d ago

Governments say they can't tax the super wealthy more because they'll just leave the country but has any first world country tried it in the last 50 years?

It would be interesting to see how raising taxes on the super wealthy actually affected a first world country's tax revenue and economy.

Are our first world economies really so fragile the rely on the super wealthy and their meager tax revenue?

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u/ILikeToDisagreeDude 1d ago

It doesn’t matter, the point is that this tax is making it worse and the income it generates is like 5 days of revenue from our oil fund. So it’s just a drop in the water - but causes great damage to Norwegian owned businesses as they have to take out extra dividends every year so the owners can pay their wealth tax. And where do you think that dividends is taken from? From potential growth for the business or benefits for their employees…

And, if you’re foreign and own a business in Norway you don’t have to pay this tax! Which is unfair.

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u/RequiemAA 1d ago

The obvious solution would be to offer a personal wealth tax break tied to your direct contributions to employee welfare/social programs.

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u/ILikeToDisagreeDude 1d ago

Not sure if that will pan out properly in Norway since we’re covered in most ways already. The ideal solution would look more at property tax (where they put most of their wealth) for the owners and employee taxes rather than company value for the companies. This way foreign or not will be taxed the same and the rich pays taxes based on their property values rather than “Wall Street says my company is worth billions even though we make zero dollars and have debt flowing out our ears” values that tend to hurt startups and smaller businesses the most.

Edit: employee taxes are what the company pays per employee, not something the employees have to pay. It’s already there and could be increased 0.4% or something that could cover for the owners wealth tax.