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They killed the American Yacht Industry in the early 90s because of a luxury tax


Opinion | Boat Luxury Tax Drives an Industry Aground - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

the american yacht industry can't have employed enough folks to really impact the national or even a state economy

I'm guessing sacrificing the american yacht industry might have been for the better overall
but, I understand why it was saved, no matter the cost

the american yacht industry can't have employed enough folks to really impact the national or even a state economy

I'm guessing sacrificing the american yacht industry might have been for the better overall
but, I understand why it was saved, no matter the cost

But the key is that they killed an industry, for what? 

Create a significant tax that targets a product that rich people buy, and they may just decide not to buy that product. 

So you don't raise that much money (because you can't tax a purchase that isn't made) but you hurt the people making the product. 

You destroy a bunch of jobs and don't even get tax revenue, because you don't realize that you don't get tax revenue of people simply choose not to buy. 

Was the number of jobs all that large? Probably not. But they were needlessly destroyed.

Yes, the ultra-wealthy are good at avoiding their money being taken away.  Whether it's wealth/not income, simply NOT buying a yacht, or paying the best financial advisors obscene amounts of money AND their being worth it.
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That's what makes a tax code you can write on a napkin so appealing.  
Just pay your fair share.  No crazy financial gymnastics.  
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But that's crazy talk.

It's Gov't sense of entitlement BWARB's pointing out,they are there to serve,not impose and none of those knobs have understood that for a long time

but, the tax code isn't something that can be written on a napkin

it's a bit more complex to obscure things from the mere mortals and muddy the eaters for the loopholes to be hidden

I know.

But it could be.

When you lack a credible financial plan, a thing is not realistic, it's built off some forlorn hope funding will appear from somewhere else.

It was a bill of goods, over sold, under funded by miles, and never had a chance of being anything beyond some expensive track laid between small towns in the Valley.

Now, the FEDERAL government can BORROW, almost indefinitely, so they COULD fund such things, in theory, using fiat money.

There is no possible feasible plan, is what I mean. There is no set of circumstances where California could build this rail, whether good idea or bad. It simply isn't how America works these days. 

There is no possible feasible plan, is what I mean. There is no set of circumstances where California could build this rail, whether good idea or bad. It simply isn't how America works these days.

Well it doesn't help that they're building it along an active fault line.