An article in today’s New York Times details a new movement in which a growing class of American millionaires and billionaires advocate for higher taxes from the government. This has put them in the remarkable position of being called “traitors to their class” by their fellow wealthy citizens.
The rationale behind these wealthy class dissenters’ call for higher taxes is that they already have more than enough wealth, and they would prefer more of their earnings be taxed and then used by the government to address the ever-widening chasm that is the American income gap.
The wealthy dissenters have formed a group, The Patriotic Millionaires, to advocate on their behalf, and they have met with Washington legislators and testified before Congress. Part of the impetus for the group’s activities likely stems from President Trump’s disgraceful 2017 $1.2 trillion tax cut, which largely benefited the wealthy and corporations at the expense of the poor, working and middle classes.
The story tracks down Stephen Prince, an ultra-rich millionaire, via Facetime aboard his luxury yacht in the South Pacific as he takes a four-month cruise around the world with his wife. Mr. Prince is quoted as saying:
People like me are not all greedy. We have to show that we have some concern for the country, and that we’re willing to pay some taxes.
It’s a fine sentiment, and one that should be welcomed by the government and all Americans.
Indeed, as the political winds shift with a new Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, more and more Democrats are introducing legislation that would indeed tax high net-worth Americans at higher rates.
Among these proposals is a bold plan by newly-elected House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to impose a 70% tax rate on income earned above $10 million. Senator Elizabeth Warren has called for a 2% tax on all household assets above $50 million, as well as a 1% billionaire surtax.
You know what? I think these are fantastic ideas. Income inequality is higher than it’s been since the Gilded Age of the 1890’s in America. 15% of all Americans live below the poverty line, which is $22,000 for a family of four. 48% of all Americans have less than $400 in their savings account. 25% of African-Americans and Hispanics live in poverty.
So why exactly is someone entitled to a billion dollars? What is this, the Middle Ages, with Kings and subjects, Lords and vassals?
It’s criminal, is what it is. It’s immoral, and it has to change. Otherwise we’re headed down a very dangerous, French-revolution style outcome, and God knows no one wants to see that.
One final point I want to make, and really hammer home, is the recent notion that wealthy individuals and corporations can make up for a lack of government services, including poor health care, low-quality education, and antipoverty programs by providing the funds themselves.
We see this phenomenon in the much-ballyhooed “Giving Pledge” that wealthy individuals such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet have publicly made, in which they pledge to give away at least 50% of their wealth when they die.
Sounds noble, right? But is it really? Why not give the money away now, when people around the world are suffering, and the planet faces a threat to its very existence.
It’s also a dangerous model that substitutes charity for services that should rightly be provided by governments to their citizens. Plus, there’s no doubt these ultra-wealthy individuals will stipulate precisely how they want their funds spent, which may very well lead to resources being devoted to donors’ pet projects instead of the places they’re truly needed.
All in all, it’s fair to say there’s a sea change in the air when it comes to how governments — or in particular the American government — views its wealthiest citizens and the extremely skewed distribution of wealth within American society.
As more and more American politicians begin to speak out and legislate against inequality, perhaps the tide is finally beginning to turn on the past 40 years of growing inequality.
In the meantime, we should by all means support efforts like those of the Patriotic Millionaires to tax wealth at a higher rate, as well as legislation in Congress to do the same. We can even welcome pledges by billionaires to donate their wealth to charity. Let’s just remember that charity cannot, should not and never will replace dedicated, fair, well-funded and equitable government services.
Onward and upward to a better and more egalitarian society.
Millions of struggling Americans can wait no longer.
