What is government for? It should be for the welfare of all the people. What is tax for? Among many other things, to ensure that everyone has a roof over their head, is not bankrupted by medical bills, and can get an education to give them a fair start in life. Rich people do not get rich solely by their own efforts. They are where they are owing to parents (of course), but also to schools, the legal system, roads, sheer luck, knowing the right people, being in the right place at the right time, government services of all kinds etc. etc. Everyone should pay tax for the benefit of their fellow human beings according to their resources and abilities.
In America it is perfectly possible for people earning $200,000 and over to, legally and without any semi-legal fiddles, but just by availing themselves of all the legal deductions arranged by Congress, to pay something around 15% of their annual income, sometimes less. Not onerous, is it? Hardly designed to dampen ambition*. Meanwhile, those who come to clean their houses can pay 30- 33% of their very much lower income.
Epicureanism stands for equal and equitable treatment of all citizens, not stacked decks.
* By the way, if you earn $200k and give $20,000 to good charitable causes this can (depending on circumstances) be totally written off against tax liability. So you can get the psychic benefit of being generous along with a low rate of tax. This is fine as long as the roads and bridges are maintained etc (which they are not). The US government depends on borrowing; its tax revenues are insufficient to pay for its needs.
The following is the text of a letter from a group of wealthy Americans earning $500,000 or over to their Congressmen, illustrating that there really are some rich people with a sense of community and fairness:
Dear [elected official]:
We are among the 1% of Americans who would feel 99% of the impact if Congress approves President Obama’s proposal to shift some of the vast sums now being spent on tax breaks for us to a better use: boosting the middle class, and making investments in education and child care that will create jobs, prepare our children, and strengthen the economy. We heartily support the President’s proposals to 1) raise the top rate on capital gains to 28% for couples making over $500,000, and 2) eliminate the step-up in basis for capital gains on inherited assets.
The current unfair rules will give us and other wealthy Americans $1.3 TRILLION in tax breaks over the next ten years by taxing our income from investments at rates far below what other Americans pay on their paychecks. Those rules will give us an additional $640 billion “free pass” by allowing us and our heirs to avoid ever paying any tax on billions of dollars in capital gains. It’s past time they were changed.
Those of us who founded or run businesses know well that the key to job creation is not tax breaks on our income, but providing opportunities for America’s children and building a robust middle class that can afford to consume our products and services.
We would not have our current wealth if we had been born in a country that lacked the services our government provided — including federal support for schools and universities that have prepared us and prepared our employees, for research and innovation, for roads and public transit, for our judicial system and law enforcement, and the national defense. We would not have even our current health if it weren’t for the government safeguarding our food, water, and medicine, preventing epidemics, and helping find cures for disease.
Yet today, Congress is foolishly shortchanging the investments needed to strengthen our economy now and in the long-run. Federal funding for investments like early care and education, medical and scientific research, and developing energy efficiency and clean energy, has been slashed from $580 billion in 2010 to $492 billion in 2014 — a 15% cut in just four years. And under current law, these cuts will become even more severe.
The money currently being spent on tax breaks for us can be far better spent to restore these critical investments in our people, create jobs, strengthen the middle class, and ensure America’s economic future.
Sincerely,