Also upwards accumulation of wealth can sometimes mean less tax revenue. Middle class salary workers pay a lot of tax, so with more upwards accumulation of wealth (maybe accelerating due to AI) then what will happen to tax revenue? People getting laid off don't pay tax, and shifting that money to corporate, tax havens, and cap gains types of taxes will probably end up lower overall
You are correct. But you are commenting in a place where mid six figure engineers consider themselves middle class and not wealthy.
Yes, the top 20% pay the vast majority of taxes and are taxed at the highest rate until you get into the ownership classes where income goes down and capital gains goes up. Plus that’s when all the tax deferral strategies come into play.
And yes, by all reasonable definitions if you are in the top 20% either income or wealth you are categorically wealthy.
Corp income tax (paid by shareholders from the rich to teacher pensions to anyone with a retirement account...), estate tax,...
When all is accounted for ... The rich still pay a far larger share than the income they earn. It's why OECD rates the US as the most progressive tax system among member nations.
True or not that the wealthy pay a greater share of their money in taxes, it doesn't matter. The money has to come from somewhere and the middle and lower classes can't afford it. Also the middle class can't pay more and continue buying the super wealthy's goods. We need to spend less and tax more. 1 trillion in interest per year is insane.
