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Cool. Explain to me logically how taxing the rich helps anyone? It is all based on envy.
We should back up to this thread to try and revive this discussion and get back to something approaching philosophy, even if it is economic philosophy.
I find this statement a tricky one as it relies on a qualitative term like "rich." Taxing Bill Gates or Warren Buffett is one thing . . . .taking someone with household income of $500K because some politician declared that "rich" is another.
There is a spectrum, right? It is not a black or white, good or bad two scenario choice. A lot of taxation that funds government spending is enjoyed by society at large and is not going away so your statement that taxing the rich is "pure envy" is fairly hyperbolic and I can't agree with it.
We need entrepreneurs to want to create wealth. Our capitalist system continues to attract the best and brightest from all over the world because we have an economic system that supports that. An overly progressive tax code is therefore working against our best interests as a country,
But on the hand, I don't find unearned generational wealth to be much of a bonus to society either. Alice Walton being worth $90 Billion dollars based on sitting around most of her life and having been born to Sam Walton is the polar opposite of a capitalist system. She won the "Ovarian Lottery" per Warren Buffett's analysis
Somewhere in the middle is a setup that works for all . . . .the debate is where are we currently. You could argue that we have strayed too far into the protecting the ultra rich camp pretty easily. You could also argue that we already have too much wasteful government spending that doesn't help anyone.