I have no problem with people who get rich, stay rich, and even pass it along to their progeny (or whomever they please). The problem I DO have is twofold:
1: The amount of difference between their income and ours.
2: The way so many of them pay far less than a fair† share of the cost of maintaining the civilization they’re (also) embedded in.
† “Fair” is a judgment call. I like the principle of “equal pain”, which implies a graduated income tax that gives you and me and them and the others about the same amount of pain. Flat taxes fail to pass the test because if I pay 10% of my income, it means I have to put off replacing the leaking roof, but if Bezos pays 10% of his, he might, MIGHT, have to give up his extra house. Or a rocket trip.
I wonder how many people who are employed by, and do the support services taking care them, make a living from the mega rich. Who washes and waxes their spaceships?
What is true is that too much of ANYTHING in one place is at least harmful, at most catastrophic. Water, fire, snow, dirt, are all obvious. Money is the same. There is far too much money in one place. If you will agree that money is a finite source, then every dollar the rich add to their coffers is a dollar taken from the not-rich. I have no prediction of exactly what this continued inequality will bring, but it won’t be pretty.Robert Heinlein, in “I Will Fear No Evil,” presents a possible picture of how this might develop…just as a setting for the plot.
David Cay Johnston who spent years as American’s top tax journalist just wrote this: “This leak of Internal Revenue Service records is by far the biggest and most important tax news in the 55 years that I’ve reported on taxes. Thanks to the leaker, we now know beyond any doubt that the endless claims America has a progressive income tax system are bunk. … Whoever dared to do this should be hailed as a national hero on a par with Darnella Frazier, the fearless teenage girl with a steady hand who last summer recorded the slow, agonizing murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.” https://www.dcreport.org/2021/06/09/how-congress-and-you-subsidize-the-richest-americans/
Yes. Exactly. I was disgusted to hear our public broadcaster in Australia the other day actually slavering over the fact that one rich bugger and his brother were going into low level orbit and the fact that a third seat was up for grabs at an astronomical price. Then to go on about how said meg rich dick was beating other mega rich dicks in some sort of ego boosting race. Who cares? Other than the rich dicks on their ego boosting race whilst ignoring the glaring levels of poverty on the planet where they live, who cares about these rich fools? I certainly don’t. They could all drop off the planet and I suspect the rest of us would not miss even a single one.
We do not yet tax unrealized gains – setting aside the Estate tax – so it is not reasonable to blame the ultra rich for filing taxes according to the current tax code. Blame congress as they created the code. And if were ever to enact a tax on unrealized gains get ready for the howls of outrage when, not if, when there is a market decline these same people write off their unrealized losses.It is time we shifted to a consumption tax to avoid this issue.
Daeder almost 3 years ago
And who do you think supports policies that widen the wealth gap?
(Hint: It’s not the Democrats.)
Concretionist almost 3 years ago
I have no problem with people who get rich, stay rich, and even pass it along to their progeny (or whomever they please). The problem I DO have is twofold:
1: The amount of difference between their income and ours.
2: The way so many of them pay far less than a fair† share of the cost of maintaining the civilization they’re (also) embedded in.
† “Fair” is a judgment call. I like the principle of “equal pain”, which implies a graduated income tax that gives you and me and them and the others about the same amount of pain. Flat taxes fail to pass the test because if I pay 10% of my income, it means I have to put off replacing the leaking roof, but if Bezos pays 10% of his, he might, MIGHT, have to give up his extra house. Or a rocket trip.
braindead Premium Member almost 3 years ago
Trump Disciples fight like hell to ensure that gap continues to widen.
KenseidenXL almost 3 years ago
We need a new French Revolution…I want to see Bezos in a tumbrel cart heading for a date with Mme. La Guillotine….
GiantShetlandPony almost 3 years ago
I’m all for sending the greediest amongst us into space. OK, I’d prefer they not come back. ;)
akachman Premium Member almost 3 years ago
Is it really possible to make the tax code even a little bit more fair?
FrankErnesto almost 3 years ago
Nothing new here, but is much worse than ever, thanks to Bush and Trump tax cuts.
ChristopherBurns almost 3 years ago
I don’t know why Jeff Bezos needs a rocket to go into space. All he has to do is pile up his money and climb to the top of it.
Display almost 3 years ago
So he finally has to pee in a bottle just like his employees.
knottytippet almost 3 years ago
“Mega-rich” is so 20th century. More like Giga-rich
IndyW almost 3 years ago
I wonder how many people who are employed by, and do the support services taking care them, make a living from the mega rich. Who washes and waxes their spaceships?
ferddo almost 3 years ago
I applaud people for chasing the American Dream of getting rich. But I’m not a fan of the greed and abuse some happily commit during their quest…
FredWaiss almost 3 years ago
What is true is that too much of ANYTHING in one place is at least harmful, at most catastrophic. Water, fire, snow, dirt, are all obvious. Money is the same. There is far too much money in one place. If you will agree that money is a finite source, then every dollar the rich add to their coffers is a dollar taken from the not-rich. I have no prediction of exactly what this continued inequality will bring, but it won’t be pretty.Robert Heinlein, in “I Will Fear No Evil,” presents a possible picture of how this might develop…just as a setting for the plot.
Red Zinger almost 3 years ago
David Cay Johnston who spent years as American’s top tax journalist just wrote this: “This leak of Internal Revenue Service records is by far the biggest and most important tax news in the 55 years that I’ve reported on taxes. Thanks to the leaker, we now know beyond any doubt that the endless claims America has a progressive income tax system are bunk. … Whoever dared to do this should be hailed as a national hero on a par with Darnella Frazier, the fearless teenage girl with a steady hand who last summer recorded the slow, agonizing murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.” https://www.dcreport.org/2021/06/09/how-congress-and-you-subsidize-the-richest-americans/
Cerabooge almost 3 years ago
Let’s start with making possession of wealth greater than a billion dollars a capital crime.
grumpypophobart almost 3 years ago
Yes. Exactly. I was disgusted to hear our public broadcaster in Australia the other day actually slavering over the fact that one rich bugger and his brother were going into low level orbit and the fact that a third seat was up for grabs at an astronomical price. Then to go on about how said meg rich dick was beating other mega rich dicks in some sort of ego boosting race. Who cares? Other than the rich dicks on their ego boosting race whilst ignoring the glaring levels of poverty on the planet where they live, who cares about these rich fools? I certainly don’t. They could all drop off the planet and I suspect the rest of us would not miss even a single one.
tauyen almost 3 years ago
We do not yet tax unrealized gains – setting aside the Estate tax – so it is not reasonable to blame the ultra rich for filing taxes according to the current tax code. Blame congress as they created the code. And if were ever to enact a tax on unrealized gains get ready for the howls of outrage when, not if, when there is a market decline these same people write off their unrealized losses.It is time we shifted to a consumption tax to avoid this issue.