Soak the Rich, this is an idea which has been around in politics for an awfully long time. What are people's opinions on the "soak the rich" policy?
The concept is basically that the government can simply raise taxes on rich people to 70% or 80% or 90% or perhaps even higher on all incomes above a certain limit that can be defined like anything above 10 million, or 1 million a year, provided it is below 100% of every dollar earned. Whatever might be defined as "Rich" in a given time or place. With the government getting so much revenues, the theory is that all deficits will be closed, all services and more will be paid for, and any amount of income redistribution for "fairness" or reducing income inequality can take place. And the economy will be so much better if more money is available for the "demand side" of the economy as opposed to capital or investments.
A common Leftist refrain is that it is usually the case that Rich people aren't paying their "fair share" of taxes. The Conservative argument is that taxes in general are bad, and it'd be good if most people had to pay less in taxes and if government spending could be cut enough to where a huge amount of tax revenue isn't required.
One theory I've read is that the Rich can't be "soaked" because most people who're rich are rich in the first place because (at least in the financial realm) they're smarter than everyone else. If a country is too high tax, capital flight could conceivably occur. France for example, is rumored to have tried taxing their rich citizens at 70% and what allegedly happened is that many of France's wealthy simply moved to Monaco- where their taxes are much lower.
One counter example is that from the 1950s to until around the 1970s, taxes of the wealthy were super high in the US but the American economy was still doing relatively good in those decades. But Conservatives contend that this was because there was no foreign competition to the US like there is today. With half of the world being Communist, too undeveloped, or still recovering from World War II (like was the case with Europe), the US could afford to be more careless with regards to economic policy that isn't true today. Also, it is said that today has a more capital intensive economy as opposed to a labor intensive one.
From recent experience, I'd contend that most people don't pay more taxes than they have to regardless of social class or status. My own family for example, has a mortgage paid off and asides from that real estate, has roughly $700,000 in assets and is considering a move from Florida to Tennessee because the tax situation in my state has become more unfavorable than in previous years because with my dad gone, income has fallen from roughly $80,000 a year to $32,000 a year. A calculation is that moving out of Florida will result in a lower cost of living but won't have a much lower quality of life like might be the case if the move was to Mississippi.
Unless you're getting paid by the government or are taking advantage of many of the services that taxes provide for, (such as if someone is very low income) most people who're working and are financially responsible and work hard to advance in status and accomplishment aren't in fact, getting much direct benefit from paying more in taxes. It feels more like a burden at the end of the day. Which is why many people have an anti-taxation attitude or if they don't, usually take advantage of things in the tax code like deductions, tax credits, or increasing withholding, that has the net effect of reducing your taxes owed.
This question has recently become more relevant if the polling is accurate that the majority of Americans (including Republicans) are now increasingly more in favor of taxing higher incomes significantly more.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/ ... 20-1144874
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlUwSTD27O0
-In a Fox News poll, 70% are in favor of increasing taxes for income over 10 million. This falls to 65% in favor for income over 1 million, and it falls to 44% in favor for income over $250,000 a year. Only around 40% in that poll are in favor of taxes never being raised for anyone.
Do you believe that "Soaking the Rich" works? Broadly speaking, are you for or against this policy and why? Is it moral in your view to take more from the rich? If so, how much is a reasonable limit as a percentage of income? Are there many historical examples that people can point to where the rich were "soaked" figuratively speaking? It is my belief that the past can often inform us as to what to expect if something has been tried before. What I'd like to determine is if it is possible for the Rich to be soaked and if it is or isn't a desirable state of affairs for our society.
