But of course.
Don't you just love the folks who say the very rich pay more tax as a percentage of the whole economy without pointing out they pay less as a proportion of their own income.
Why? Because. relatively-speaking, their income has grown faster than their tax payments. They are gorging on an ever higher share of GDP. Of course they should pay more in taxes. But they should be paying those taxes at least at the rate they used to, rather than at a lower rate. Yet the opposite is true. The wealthier they have got relative to everyone else, the lower their rate of tax.
Those doers ain't so good after all.
Doh!
It is arguments like these which have made me conclude that the right is simply dishonest. They know the facts. They conceal them from the incurious.
The theory - which was originally a sincere one - was that low tax rates would encourage entrepreneurship and spread wealth around society. Low taxes would create a broad social advantage, they thought. Overall, we would all benefit. Okay - it doesn't look likely on its face, but it was worth an experiment. After the Reagan revolution the results are in, and it is clear that lowering and flattening tax rates concentrates wealth. It doesn't spread it around at all. The very wealthiest people benefit by lower taxes. And few others do.
Okay. If you are intellectually honest, you admit that. You don't hide behind fake or puny arguments. You admit that the trickle down effect is an illusion. You admit that low taxes concentrate wealth in a few hands.
If you want to argue for wealth concentration, at least that is honest. But the OWS message resonates for a reason. Why should the majority accept a system which pretends to endorse the American Dream of universal opportunity, but conceals the truth that it kills it?
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