Yes, that's true, but it's one thing when someone has an apartment, a ten-year-old car and the usual Gas and Electric, TV, phone and internet, and no real savings, and another thing entirely when that person has a large house in a very nice neighborhood, two new cars, a good retirement fund, etc.
So under your plan - what will happen to these "very nice neighborhoods?" After you redistribute wealth, and people can't afford to live in these neighborhoods - what happens? Do these homes get split up into apartments and rented out? Who owns them now - the government? And how did the government acquire these homes - did they confiscate them? Buy them back from the owners? If so, did the owners make a profit and then get forced to give 50% of it back to the government? I mean, what's your practical application?
We have the right because it's easy to do finances and see what's necessary and what's excess. And just to be clear, none of this is advocating making everyone's pay the same or even close. People who make $50,000 a year would still make $35,000ish after taxes, and those who make $250,000 would still make $130,000ish.
OK so (under your plan) now I don't make $250,000 - I make $130,000. Problem with that is, suddenly that demanding job that paid $250,000 isn't so appealing. (Because I have news for you - most high paying jobs require education, experience, and just plain hard work.) Why should I bust my butt, rack up student loans, work 16 hour days for 20 years to be able to move into that position, etc? Why should I work harder than anyone else? Just to give it to someone else - someone I don't even know? Human nature isn't that generous.
Instead, I think I'll just scale way on back. I think I'll become under-employed and make my life and my family's life a little easier. Why not? It doesn't do me any good to work harder, and it's detrimental to my family.
So - now, who are the doctors, the researchers, the CEOs, the investors, the inventers? Who donates the land to the hospital to add a center to research a cure for cancer? Who puts up the capital for a developer who wants to build affordable homes? Who pays the bulk of the taxes to finance this grand plan of equalization when the top tax payers realize that their demanding jobs aren't getting them anywhere and they quit?
Also, there's nothing self-righteous or judgemental about it. It's simply seeing that some people need help, and that others can provide it. If I can provide it, I will. And yes, I do apply it to myself. If I ever have the good fortune to make $250,000 (assuming inflation hasn't made that number obsolete), I will gladly give 45-50% of it because I understand how things work.
But WHY work to achieve that goal? Listen, I found myself in this very situation. I was working my butt off, making about $70,000 a year. This bumped us up into a higher tax bracket. We sat down one night and figured something out. I was getting in late, never cooking dinner, both of us gaining weight because we were grabbing fast food at 8 or 9 pm, we didn't have quality time together because we were both working so hard, we were both working at least ten additional hours on the weekends, I was getting up at 5 am to put in two hours of work BEFORE I went to work, my job demanded a nice wardrobe (which was expensive), wear and tear on my vehicle, and by the time I paid my taxes, deducted for the depreciation of my vehicle and other expenses, was it worth it? NO. So I quit. I took a job that is not as demanding, that pays about $30,000 less a year. Now - this made a definite impact on our life, but it's been worth it. Now - no big vacations, no nice new wardrobe, gotta keep my car for probably ten years now instead of five or six, very little eating out - oh and did I leave out - NOW I'm not saving for retirement, now I won't be able to contribute to our son's college fund, now I'm not pumping as much into the economy either either - and I'm not paying as much in taxes -which under your plan would support more social programs.
We're also selling our place (17 acres and a big house) because we can't afford to keep it (we knew this would be one of the prices we paid when I resigned from my other job). We'll buy something more modest - which means we'll be SPENDING LESS MONEY and paying less in taxes. Less money pumped into our local economy. Now - multiply that by hundreds of thousands of families just like ours. Where is your tax base going to come from?
And who's going to buy our place? Some other poor suckers who are willing to continue to bust their butts and be penalized for it? Heck, we'll be lucky to be able to sell it.
Now we made all these changes based just on a 28% tax bracket. And we're not alone - imagine what impact this sort of thing would be nationwide - and involving the many, many people who make more money than my husband and I do.
Then, does your husband make all of the money, or were you able to save up enough while doing that 70-hour work week that you can half live off of savings?
My husband makes several times more than I do - now. But he's 51 years old, and has worked like a dog in the oilfield since he was 20 years old. You know those guys on that show about extreme jobs - the guys working out on the rigs? The extremely dirty, sweaty guys with one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet? That was my husband for 20 years- working in Africa, under constant threat of being kidnapped from a rig, shot at, stranded in third world airports - living and traveling in very poor conditions, working a job with an injury rate you just wouldn't believe.
You know why those guys are willing to work like that? Because they get paid well. Because they have dreams for their families - dreams of 17 acres and a nice house - things they never had before. You think those guys would be willing to work in that industry if they knew they wouldn't be able to achieve those goals?
Furthermore, do you really, for a minute, think that the Ted Kennedys, the Obamas, the Bushes, the Gores, are willing to give up THEIR perks "for the people?"
It's not just about what you're making now. It's also about how much you have.
