“Tax The Rich” is Like Saying “Kill The Goose That Lays The Golden Eggs”

Greed will destroy you

You probably heard the story of the farmer who owned a wonderful goose that laid a golden egg every day. These golden eggs made the farmer very wealthy.

After some time, the farmer became greedy. A golden egg per day was not good enough for him. He wanted all the eggs at once so he could become the wealthiest man in the kingdom.

So he killed his goose that laid the golden eggs, but there were no eggs in the dead goose.

His greed ruined him

There is a great deal of talk in certain political circles about “taxing the rich”.

Not much rational thought went into the creation and promotion of the slogan “tax the rich”. I think it was purposely created to whip most of the people into a frenzy of hate and envy against those who are doing well financially.

It sounds good during a march, or protest against all that ails the world. Those who march and protest don’t have the facts and are being used for political purposes.

I have always wondered where people find the time to march and protest. Don’t they have jobs to go to, or classes to attend to educate themselves so they can get a job if they don’t have one? Or get a better job if they have one? It puzzles me.

While the masses let slogans think for them, the famous or infamous (your choice) American politician AOC is selling TAX THE RICH SWEATSHIRTS at US $58.00 each.

She also sells other items with slogans on them. The link to her website is at the end of the article. To be clear, I am not making a single penny to promote her website or her products, nor would I want to. AOC has a greater interest in helping herself rather than in working for those who voted for her.

Tax the rich

This slogan seems to suggest that the rich pay no taxes. This is just not true.

What does being rich mean?

According to dictionary.com the word “rich” means having wealth or great possessions; abundantly supplied with resources, means, or funds.

It’s an imprecise definition, as it should be, because we all have novel ideas about what it means to be rich.

For this piece, let us say that rich means the top income earners. Based on this definition of the word rich, here are the facts.

Beverly Bird in her article “Breakdown of Who Pays the Most — and Least — in Taxes People who earn $200,000 or more pay more than half of the total income taxes,” appearing in The Balance, provides some very interesting facts.

A link to her article is at the end of this piece.

Note the subtitle of her article: People who earn $200,000 or more pay more than half of total income taxes.

Not only do the rich pay taxes, but high-income earners pay a higher rate of income tax than low-income earners.

What is the endgame?

What exactly does the slogan “tax the rich” mean? Tax the rich more? Take away their money through higher taxes? How about taking away all their money, homes, and possessions, and make them poor? Who will be left to pay taxes then? What is the aim?

These questions should be asked of those who encourage animosity towards the financially successful. Government programs are funded from the taxes paid by those who have an income.

I have great admiration and respect for successful people because I know how much good they do in society.

I have often said that I would be thrilled to pay a million dollars a year in income taxes. Why? Because it would mean that I earned a very high income, much higher than a million dollars.

People need to think and not allow self-serving politicians to mislead them or allow slogans to think for them.

References:

The Goose That Laid The Golden Eggs AOC’s Online Store Breakdown of Who Pays the Most — and Least — in Taxes