"Is this bill in California?"

Those are part of the proposal, yes.

...excluding directly held real estate, certain pensions & retirement accounts, and tangible property held outside California for over 270 days...

"Sad but true."

Okay.

Now answer the question.

"if your state told you to fork over 5% of your net worth, how would you respond?"

They're exempting my IRAs, my pensions, and my properties?!?

Fine by me.

"FICA taxes are tied to retirement age benefits."

They're funding current tax cuts, for future IOUs...which WILL be devalued, because they'll have to be.

Answer my question: which is more valuable? The 6-9% upfront cash, or the 2% bond @ 25 years?

Actual Math answers only.

"New admin claws back polpork"

New admin pretends polpork always ends in (D)

"The fairness of it will still be in question. No matter what. "

Well, I think getting a trillionaire before eradicating world hunger should be an alarm bell.

"Wealth inequality is what it's really about."

Wealth changes is what it's really about.

Look at all the tax brackets: some are thousands of dollars apart, some are tens of thousands of dollars apart. Only one has a bracket which doesn't change when income increases $100 billion.

Without looking, I guarantee you we have a larger % of taxpayers in the top bracket than we did in fairer years past.

"does that calculation include FICA taxes"

Of course not.

Payroll (FICA) taxes, which total 15.3%, start at dollar one.

Income taxes don't start until around $14,000, and for the next $10K, they're at 10%. So whatever lead payroll taxes have, it keeps getting bigger, until the taxpayer hits the 22% federal, then it STARTS to catch up. In fact, income taxes don't exceed payroll taxes until income is over $130,000.

" top 10% of U.S. income earners paid approximately 72% of all federal income taxes"

You're cherry-picking.

Now do payroll taxes, the kind ~70% of workers pay more of over their working lifetimes.

Then, tell me what is a better deal: money upfront, with 6%-9% annual growth assumptions, or a 2% bond with a 25yr average maturity?

"That speaks to a pretty dang progressive income tax code."

Hey Einstein, if rates go down, and the wealthiest still end up paying a larger percentage...THAT MEANS EVEN MORE WEALTH HAS TRANSFERRED UPWARD.

" the rich like these billionaires are rich from W-2 work/income but capital gains via stock"

And when a poor person puts up their Roth IRA as collateral, it ceases to be an IRA. Meanwhile, the wealthiest can offer unrealized gains as collateral.

And when Romney got the $20 million payout from Bain? It was right after the '07-'08 Bush Bust & Bailout; he just sold some paper losses, bought them back in 31 days, and pocketed $20 million without paying a penny of taxes.

You do that all the time, right?

"Why is going from 28% to 20% capital gains tax not transferring money from richest to poorest."

Mainly, because you're leaving out the taxes most people pay more of.

You're also pretending both groups have the same incomes, and all their income is taxed the same way.

IOW, you're comparing wages with carried interest.

"The same can be said for you Danforth."

No it can't. I've been for the release since forever.

You were for it when you thought it would hurt Democrats, then turned against it when it became clear Trump was an integral part of seemingly every page.

"Your attempts to demonize the Republican side only is laughable."

You'd be hard-pressed to find anything good I say about Democrats. It's just the Republicans are so ---------- worse.

"That explains the NGOs and all the people now leaving Washington DC."

The folks attending to the needs of the neediest?!? Yeah, that's the plan.

"So, you are stating that the tax code taxes the poorest at a very high rate and then transfers that money to the richest in the form of welfare/food stamps, etc?"

No, dumfuq. I'm saying the tax code taxes billionaires at a lower overall federal rate than, say, dentists who make $185,000 a year.

I'm also saying the wealthy get to live by a different set of rules. Again, aren't you paying attention??? WE'RE BORROWING NEW TRILLIONS FOR TAX CUT GIVEAWAYS.

"I say, RELEASE ALL THE FILES, no redactions for anyone."

And the folks you vote for are laughing at your suggestion, while knowing they can still count on your vote.