Should wealthy people pay higher taxes than the poor?
We should not raise taxes on the wealthy. It's all about justice! Let's start with a definition of fairness. Fairness means that Americans get the benefits of their labor, that what they make is inherently theirs and not the government to redistribute as it sees right, and that the only way to prosperity is hard work and success. Even if the wealthiest pay the same tax rate as lesser incomes under a flat tax, the wealthy will still pay more in absolute terms since they have a bigger amount of income to tax. However, by any realistic sense, the amount paid by the wealthy is already more than their "fair share," since the top 1% earned 16.5 percent of all income in 2015 but paid a stunning 43.6 percent of federal income tax. Meanwhile, more than 44% of Americans do not pay any federal income tax. The success of entrepreneurs and business owners should not be penalized.
It is not only immoral, but also ineffective, to force a tiny segment of the population to pay an excessive load of government support; it kills jobs and, in some cases, results in lower government revenue. Raising taxes on the wealthy deters people from working and creating jobs, delaying both. If increased taxes deter businesses from launching or expanding, not only the wealthy will suffer, but so will people who will be unemployed. Furthermore, this means that tax increases frequently fail to achieve their intended revenue-raising goal. When high taxes stifle economic growth, the government is forced to tax a less amount of money at a greater rate. Tax increases sometimes result in decreased total receipts, but even in less extreme instances, tax increases provide diminishing returns.
They're already high (in comparison to other industrialized countries), and the US was in the terrible company before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) decreased the federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% in 2018. Only the United Arab Emirates, an oil-rich Middle Eastern country with a population of fewer than Michigan, Puerto Rico, a US territory, and Comoros had higher top corporate tax rates than the United States. The United States now has 20%, 25%, and 25% rates in the United Kingdom, China, and Canada, respectively (28 percent). Other countries enjoyed a competitive advantage over the US when it came to attracting businesses before the corporation tax cut. This is no longer the case, and evidence suggests that boosting tax rates could hasten the trend. Every time a corporation relocates overseas, it costs the United States both jobs and tax income.
Higher taxes on the wealthy are supported by those who feel it makes economic sense and that some wealth redistribution is beneficial. Their free-market critics argue that not only is this a bad government interference but that the economic effects will damage both the rich and the poor. Do you think taxes on the wealthy should be raised, or should the status quo be maintained?
