Greetings,
“The Rich” are human, and while they should pay much higher taxes they could also, theoretically, be abused. What’s their Fair Share? Glad you asked. Check out Tom’s Tidbits- What’s a ‘fair share’? Here’s one answer
“Eat the Rich” is a catchy little phrase gaining traction these days, but it goes back to Jean Jacques Rousseau during the French Reign of Terror- “When the people shall have no more to eat, they will eat the rich!” A visceral hatred for those who denigrate the little people making life-or-death decisions in a collapsing economy might be understandable. ‘The Rich’ aren’t trying to help their case either, as Elon’s recent Tweet to Bernie showed… “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive.” “Eat the Rich” may be a feel-good phrase if you’re one of the not-rich, but it’s a toxic appeal to the lowest instincts in the poor and middle classes and fuels the fears of the rich. Even worse, it masks a non-vengeful policy that makes perfect sense… “Tax Wealth”.
Trickle-down economics, the idea that money given to ‘the rich’ trickles down to benefit everyone, is so transparently ridiculous that George Bush famously called it ‘voodoo economics’ when Reagan proposed it. Bush has since been vindicated by scientific studies and 40 years of easily observable reality. “The Rich” don’t get their income from wages, they get it through investments, stock options, bonuses, and other non-wage sources. Tax has been effectively removed on capital gains and investments but remains firmly in place on wages.
Our society can’t depend on Table Scraps from the Rich; it shouldn’t be their choice whether to contribute or not. We did a spot on this topic back in the KPOJ days… click here for “Table Scraps”, which comes with its own video
The result has been a transfer of roughly $50 TRILLION dollars from the bottom 90% to the top 10% over the last four decades.
That’s not because the top 10% were working trillions of times harder. Rich people can pay for accountants to take maximum advantage of the tax laws, avoid taxes where possible, and fight the IRS when (and notably, IF) they’re audited. It’s a self-reinforcing cycle, as they also have the money to hire accountants and lobbyists to write laws more generous to their tax bracket. Congress was awash in $3.53 BILLION in lobbying spending in lobbying cash in 2020 (on all subjects), and you can bet not a dime came from bottom-economic-quartile clients.
But “Eat the Rich” hands yet another club to the Rich to beat down any attempt to reform this corrupted system. They can clutch their pearls at the “raw bigotry that threatens to poison the well for everyone who aspires to a better life” and pretend the only possible motivation could be envy. They can hide behind the sentiment of the phrase and never deal with the content, turning natural human anger at injustice into a justification to continue the abuse.
Every society funds government through tax, a percent of the value produced in the society. Where does/should a proper tax burden fall? The value of anything is its total value in land, labor, and capital, (recent economists also include entrepreneurship) and since land (raw material) doesn’t pay tax, that leaves labor and capital (and entrepreneurship) as tax targets. I think we’re all obligated to pay tax but to me, at least, there’s a world of difference between taxing someone’s daily bread and their accumulated overage. Class hatred is a poor basis for tax policy, but taxing wealth is perfectly reasonable. In fact, it’s essential. TAX WEALTH!
“Eat the Rich” is not some proposal for class war and cannibalism, it’s a slogan to vent steam and a warning to the plutocrats, kleptocrats, and oligarchs. Unfortunately, the wealthy who’ve built the parasitic system we live in are highly motivated to watch the steam and ignore the warning. They’re gonna go low anyway, so let’s go high. It’s a stronger, better, healthier place to be.
Make a great day,
Inside the Shadowy Industry Where the Uber-Rich Pay Millions to Hide Trillions, Andy Kroll in Rolling Stone, June 2021
Here are 5 ways the super-rich manage to pay lower taxes, Michelle Fox on CNBC, Feb 2019
Philanthropy is currently a ‘Band-Aid on the open wound of American poverty’ when it should be tackling larger systematic problems, Paul Constant on BusinessInsider.com, Feb 2020
Why “Eat The Rich” Leads To Pauperizing the Poor, William Collier in The Economic Standard
The Rich in Public Opinion, Dr. Rainer Zitelmann, May 2020
The richest 1 percent dodge taxes on more than one-fifth of their income, study shows, Christopher Ingraham in Washington Post, Mar 2021
CHARTS: Here’s What The Wall Street Protesters Are So Angry About…, Henry Blodget on BusinessInsider, Oct 2011
How Accounting Giants Craft Favorable Tax Rules From Inside Government, Jesse Drucker and Danny Hakim in NY Times, Sep 2021
I’m an accountant for ultrawealthy people in Florida. Here’s what surprises my clients most about their taxes — and what I love about my job, Meira Gebel in Business Insider, May 2021
The Government Just Admitted It Doesn’t Really Try to Collect Rich People’s Taxes, David Sirota in Newsweek, Mar 2021
Addressing Tax System Failings That Favor Billionaires and Corporations, Seth Hanlon and Galen Hendricks at American Progress, Sep 2021
Author explains why the so-called Great Resignation is happening: The American dream is dead, Kurt Eichenwald on UpWorthy, Nov 2021
Substantial Income of Wealthy Households Escapes Annual Taxation Or Enjoys Special Tax Breaks, Marr, Jacoby, and Bryant at Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Nov 2019
How Corporate Donors Get Their Tax Breaks and 5 Ways to Fight Back, Tausanovitch and Kennedy at American Progress, Nov 2017
When a Hyundai is also the family home, Chloe Nouvelle on NPR, Nov 2021
Nobel-winning ‘natural experiments’ approach made economics more robust, Philip Ball in Nature, Oct 2021
Trends in Income From 1975 to 2018, Price and Edwards at Rand Corporation, 2020
Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects, Imbens and Angrist in Econometrica, Mar 1994
How These Ultrawealthy Politicians Avoided Paying Taxes, Dimani, Faturechi, and Ward in ProPublica, Nov 2021
Former Trump official tells workers it’s their ‘patriotic duty’ to take whatever jobs are offered to them, Brad Reed on Raw Story, Nov 2021
Trickle-down economics just doesn’t work, and this study shows it, Mihai Andrei in ZMEScience, Apr 2021
Tax Cuts For Whom? Heterogeneous Effects Of Income Tax Changes On Growth And Employment, Owen Zidar at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Feb 2017
Why Trickle-Down Economics Works in Theory But Not in Fact, Kimberly Amadeo in The Balance, Mar 2021
Trickle-Down Economics: Four Reasons Why It Just Doesn’t Work, Mehrun Etebari on United for a Fair Economy, Jul 2003
‘Trickle-down’ tax cuts make the rich richer but are of no value to overall economy, study finds, Christopher Ingraham in Washington Post, Dec 2020
The Economic Consequences of Major Tax Cuts for the Rich, Hope and Limberg at London School of Economics, Dec 2020
What Is Trickle-Down Economics & Why It Doesn’t Work, Ethical Unicorn, Jun 2021
Twitter poll calls on Elon Musk to sell 10% stake in Tesla, BBC News, Nov 2021
The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That’s Made the U.S. Less Secure, Nick Hanauer and David Rolf in Time, Sep 2020
The second-biggest program in the Democrats’ spending plan gives billions to the rich, Fowers and Ducroquet in Washington Post, Nov 2021
Sanders opposes plan to scrap ‘SALT’ cap, then restore it, Laua Weill and Lindsey McPherson in Roll Call, Nov 2021
How These Ultrawealthy Politicians Avoided Paying Taxes, Simani, Faturechi, and Ward on ProPublica, Nov 2020
Author explains why the so-called Great Resignation is happening: The American dream is dead, Sethuraman S on Upworthy, Nov 2021
Voodoo Economics, Daniel Liberto in Investopedia, Feb 2021
