re: The "tax the rich" ideaology.

9-9-9

And get rid of ALL tax breaks and the IRS.

You’re not paying your fair share

Do you think a graduated tax structure is logical?

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They buy into the mindset that somehow people don’t deserve what they have and the government deserves to take it.

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I think a lot of this is driven by ego in that many of those yelling to “tax the rich” think that the people who are rich “aren’t better than I am and I deserve to have as much as they do.”

It is funny that the socialists really buy into the value of people being determined by the things they can have.

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If your whole identity is thinking rich people are bad and need to support you, does that mean you never want to be wealthy?

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That is correct. Those people do not want to be wealthy. Not personally. They DO want other people to be forced to subsidize them and take care of them, however. That's much better in their estimation because their virtue remains intact, but they still get everything they want/need. They don't want to be sullied by making lots of money, but they demand that lots of money be spent on their behalf.

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And wat happens if you get what you want and all the rich people go away? Who will fund your lifestyle at that point?

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Have you not seen the videos from NYC where people have been asked what happens when the businesses leave? Have you not paid attention to California and what they're trying to do there?

Their plan is to kidnap producers and MAKE them stay so that they can be fed off of.

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Do you think a graduated tax structure is logical?

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An income tax is not logical on its face. Regardless of how you structure it.

“Tax the rich” is just another label that can be slapped on any proposal to adjust the tax code. It’s almost as bad as “woke”.
It’s meaningless without specifics or context…

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The horse is: why are you taxing?

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Modern society requires infrastructure and institutions that support communities and society at large. Taxes are the most practical and efficient way I know of to collectively fund those investments. If there's a better alternative, I'm open to hearing it.

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Tax the rich” is just another labelLike "Fair Share"

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It’s designed to create distrust and envy amongst the people and create a need for legislators who will constantly adjust the tax code to ensure we aren’t getting screwed by our fellow citizens.

The irony of course is that we are far more likely to get screwed by the aforementioned legislators.

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Modern society requires infrastructure and institutions that support communities and society at large. Taxes are the most practical and efficient way I know of to collectively fund those investments. If there's a better alternative, I'm open to hearing it.

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Sort of, but you are again getting a little ahead. The answer is that governments tax because there are roles they need to fulfill (national defense, for example) and there are roles they decide to fulfill (Social Security, for another example) and then there are roles they are requested/demanded to fulfill (NGOs, research grants, etc).

Fulfilling these roles cost money, if that cost is greater than what the government takes in through other means (tariffs, for example) then it creates/raises taxes.

So with that in mind, we have a government currently adding over $1T in extra debt each year AND for every year in the projected future. Thus, instead of asking about "how much can we tax" and/or "who should pay more" we should first be asking the following questions:

1. Are we asking too much of the federal government? Can some of those duties be given over to states or do they even need to be funded at all? (like the study on the impact of cocaine on shrimp, that has no place being a government-funded study)

2. Is the increase in spending legitimate due to the federal government being a good enough steward of the taxes they already receive (costs just going up)?

If we're asking too much of the federal government, then federal taxes don't need to be raised on anyone and those programs need to be shut down or offloaded.

If the federal government is already not being a good steward (ie: fiscally responsible), then raising taxes on anyone is to just feed more irresponsibility (ie: not addressing the root cause of the deficit, just the symptom).

Personally, I believe we are both asking too much of the federal government AND they are failing at being fiscally responsible. Because of this, I think the discussion of a graduated tax scale is premature. I would rather see spending cut first and then see what's needed after that. It may well be that a responsible federal government could run on a blanket 10% income tax with no loopholes.

But we won't know that until we start addressing the root cause instead of debating on symptom cures.