Success should NEVER be punished

Amy Alkon leads a discussion on why the rich are penalized at high tax rates when the poor skate away without paying a single dime in income taxes, once their credits and withholding are factored in.

The poor, despite paying little to no income tax, actually pay much higher and very well hidden taxes on other things - well hidden by cowardly politicians who would face an enraged populace if they discovered that all the EITCs and withholding they got back from the IRS went back to the government via consumption.  For instance - that $6 of generic smokes they got at the convenience store slams them with an effective tax rate of 58.5%.  Or that their cellphone bill has taxes that have been collected since the Spanish-American war and tack on 10-20% in taxes.  Gasoline taxes are 18.4 cents per gallon in Massachusetts - if you work 40 hours a week at minimum wage of $8 an hour and fill your 20 gallon tank at $60, you've just paid half an hour of your wages in tax.  (When you factor in the federal tax of 24.4 cents per gallon, each hour you work you will pay that much money in gas taxes.)

On the other hand, the rich are paid very well because their value and success to their business warrants it. Sure, there are sports players that earn hundreds of millions of dollars in salary for each season, which is a few months a year.  Sure, there are greedy bankster and baron robbers out there that have million-dollar bonuses.  But others who are inventors, innovators, researchers - people who do a genuine service - deserve to be compensated handsomely.  Some are so rich now that they take a nominal dollar salary per year, but they do so as a symbol to their employees that money doesn't matter.

The reason why there are calls for the rich to be taxed higher and higher doesn't involve money.  There are people so insanely jealous and envious of others are guilty of not being successful themselves, so they demand the money be seized via taxes and inflation and given to others as a warped method of "justice."  In East Germany, those who dared work privately and not for the state found their wages taxed at 90% - all because Karl Marx - himself a wealthy aristocrat with disdain for the lower classes - saw those same visions of serfs and feudal lords.

We don't live in the times of feudal lords, aristocracy, royalty, serfs, commoners, and peasants anymore, but there are folks who dream that a pecking order returns and people are put in their place.  The other fantasy is that all are equal and none are exceptional - no one learns how to work hard to get ahead and all is provided by a invisible hand.   (Love this quote about so-called "social justice" in the blog, though - "[Bec]ause if it were real justice it wouldnt (sic) require a qualifing word.")

Hence, not only should the rich not be an ATM for social engineering wonks, the rich should never, ever be punished for their success.  Not all of them are going to drive six-figure cars and spend the entire summer in Martha's Vineyard burning hundreds and engaging in all-day insider trading deals.  Most of them are humble; most of them donate freely to places and charities (the IRS is a government agency, not a charity).  To sneer that the rich are "not paying their fair share" is a sign that the inquirer is either an ignorant moron, a control freak of the highest order, or is clueless of how things and people work.  Of course, if you feel you're not paying enough to the government, by all means, write a check to the IRS to reduce the national debt (or, if you live in Massachusetts, check off the 5.85% "optional" income tax).

Otherwise, you're a jealous fucking control freak asshole.