Governments R Stoopid (And Stupide, Across The Pond)
Voters in LA passed a measure to raise the sales tax a half a cent. A friend of Gregg's pointed out what this will mean for builders, for whom a half cent in materials can add up to a lot: They will stop buying their building supplies from LA-based businesses and instead buy them in nearby Pasadena, which does not have the half-cent tax increase.
Likewise, I predict the porn business in Los Angeles will move to Las Vegas to avoid the condom-nannies the voters have mandated.
Idiot politicians and idiot voters don't really think about the big picture -- hell, the slightly big picture -- when they're voting in these measures. So, they sink us further into financial disaster by killing the businesses we do have.
In France, the rich people are fleeing like rats on a seenking sheep (that's franglais for "sinking ship") thanks to François Hollande's socialist brilliance. From Jean Rafferty in the The New York Times:
PARIS -- The tax changes slated for the 2013 budget by President François Hollande's Socialist government are having an effect on the Paris luxury property market before they have even passed into law.Quite a few of France's most wealthy already have moved abroad to avoid the country's stiff inheritance and wealth taxes. Now, real estate agents say, the younger, working wealthy also are on the move, unhappy at the prospect of being taxed at 75 percent on income of more than €1 million, or $1.27 million, and a capital gains tax of more than 60 percent on stocks, bonds and company sales, although protests have produced exceptions for investors and new business start ups.
"In the last eight months since the measures were revealed, over 400 new residences, each worth above €1 million, have come on the market as French entrepreneurs and investors leave France," said Charles-Marie Gottras, president of Daniel Féau, a high-end French real estate broker.
"We are seeing the kind of luxurious, high-quality properties that one used to see once a year or every six months now arrive on the market every week," he said.
Taking off with all those rich Frogs are their euro-filled bank accounts and the taxes they might have paid in France when the rate was merely exorbitant.
I'll be leaving NY when I retire. I will be joining the thousands of former NY Civil Servants who left to avoid having their pensions taxed by the state that provides them.
I don't have any moral qualms about doing so. My pension will come from a private company, one which NY virtually drove out of the state via taxes. Whatever dues are owed, I've paid.
MarkD at November 21, 2012 4:16 AM
We had a similar experience here in East TN. The tax-fattened hyenas in Nashville decided the state needed more revenue and they wanted to only "tax the rich." So they passed a tax on new boats.
People quit buying boats and the Sea Ray plant closed within 6 months. Cost us 40 or so jobs here in East Tennessee.
Lamont Cranston at November 21, 2012 6:55 AM
Anecdotally, I have a friend whose sister and her French husband are planning a move to the U.S. for this reason. He is one the young "working wealthy" the article mentions above. He is also Jewish and they have seen an uptick in anti-Semitism, much of it coming from the left.
Astra at November 21, 2012 8:07 AM
"In France, the rich people are fleeing like rats on a seenking sheep (that's franglais for 'sinking ship')"
I thought it was franglais for a cerebral ram.
It's amazing, though, isn't it? After all this time, with all the evidence, can't politicians figure out that when you tax something, the act of taxation itself means that there will be less to tax?
Old RPM Daddy at November 21, 2012 8:33 AM
so... how long before France taxes you on exit?
SwissArmyD at November 21, 2012 9:47 AM
It's no different in the US. Take the inheritance tax. I am actually a fan of inheritance tax, as long as it is a reasonable percentage, but 55%?! That's not any sort of a fair tax, that's simple robbery.
Worse, it isn't going to affect the really rich it is supposed to be aimed at: they can afford lawyers and estate managers who will use trust funds and other loopholes to avoid the tax. This is going to land squarely on farmers, ranchers and business owners whose "wealth" isn't movable or spendable.
@SwissArmyD: I assume you know that the US already has an exit tax?
a_random_guy at November 21, 2012 10:34 AM
Lamont, thousands of people lost their jobs in Florida due to the "luxury tax". It's pretty easy for a businessman, or anyone who understands money, that if you're spending a million on a yacht, you can get one shipped from Feadship in the Netherlands for less than the tax on a Bertram made in Florida.
So, Congress thought the tax would bring money in. Nope. It COST taxpayers, as those people went on unemployment.
But there's a wonderful sort of irony to all this. Every added burden on "the rich" actually makes it harder for other people to get there.
Radwaste at November 21, 2012 2:28 PM
Anyone remember John Kerry's yacht?
Jim P. at November 21, 2012 8:53 PM
"Every added burden on 'the rich' actually makes it harder for other people to get there."
Of course, if you don't want other people to get there, that's just fine.
Old RPM Daddy at November 22, 2012 5:23 AM
Do you think that a lot of people will cry if the porn business leaves LA? Do you think people will say, "If only we had more pornographers"?
I mean, yes, business is business, but do you think most people in LA feel that way?
NicoleK at November 23, 2012 5:36 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/11/governments-r-s.html#comment-3470454">comment from NicoleKNicole, people can't do simple math. The porn industry is a billion-plus-dollar industry in Los Angeles. The people in it buy and rent props, rent houses, pay camera people and lighting people, buy food, etc.
Only idiots wouldn't "cry" if the porn business left LA.
And believe me, since the condom measure was voted in, we are overflowing with idiots. Nobody will stop making movies; they'll just stop making them in LA. Same as builders aren't going to stop building. But, if you're spending a million dollars on building supplies for some skyscraper, suddenly saving a half cent on sales tax becomes meaningful. Time to ditch the LA building supply places for those in Pasadena!
Amy Alkon
at November 23, 2012 6:23 AM
Nicole, the Valley Industry & Commerce Association and at least 15 other chambers of commerce sided with the porn business in opposition to Measure B:
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_21848229/measure-b-los-angeles-county-voters-decide-if
These folks may not be passionately pro-porn, but they know where their bread is buttered.
Martin at November 23, 2012 9:23 AM
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