it all has to go to the top or it can't happen

that tells me it's about more than simply a misunderstanding of the economics

At least from the way I see it, both major parties have no clue over what direction to go in.

it varies by state/locality here though, you can see dramatic differences if you travel aroudn US

in the US, i think the far left is becoming the more rational group, which excludes mainstream democrats for the most part

I disagree with both parties, and have pretty much given up on trying to understand where they are going.

wealth inequality has macroeconomic effects, alongside all the social justice stuff

Well, on a real basic level, I think the tax system needs work.

as workers share of GDP shrinks, aggregate demand drops

sure, but i woudl say more for the labor savings than any real issue of taxation

The way the US system is set up, tax avoidance is a major issue, and it seems to hurt the poor and middle class.

tax system could stay exactly the same and you could fix latter part just from fiscal policy

And the tax avoidance is kinda built-in, and it isn't a bug and rather a feature.

tax policy is really about how efficiently you want to control inflation AND/OR social engineering goals

You'd have to figure out how to tax higher incomes.

I've heard some floated ideas, like taxing shares,etc, as well as a flat tax.

no real magic to that, the us has had dramatically higher marginal tax rates before, though it doesn't really do wht they want it to because spending habits change less higher up you go

so that would be mostly a social engineering goal

if you want to control inflation, consumption taxes work better

(and that should be the main goal of tax policy in monetary economy)

I can't say whether it is right or wrong: Though in NZ, it has a high sales tax, coupled with a flat tax system based upon income level, with no exemptions for charities as much as in the US.

My folks kinda feel they are paying more tax here than in NZ.

they might be, us has a very diverse system depending on how you make your money

I don't think NZ has capital gains taxes either

or it's not separate at least

They paid the top tax rate in NZ, which was 33%

in the us it matters how you make your money, not just how mch you make

NZ has no payroll taxes,etc, just a general income tax.

for 'income' here in the us it's 37 marginal above 500k for single

but 21% capital gains

'income' here means labor for the most part

Also families in NZ can receive tax credits, though never really looked into how that works.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_for_Families

short term capital gains is taxed like income(labor) which hits traders like me

yea we have that here too, earned income tax credit and a mess of other line item stuff

0/15/20 capital gains rates here split at 40k and 400k ish

Yep. NZ has no capital gains taxes, though they have been floated.

Mostly to deal with the housing issue.

The govt recently made some restrictions on foreign property ownership.

Which isn't obviously going to fix the problem, and is more of 'we are doing something' message.

it's approaching problem from wrong angle, the asset bubble is caused by the monetary policy, which contributes to pricing out locals