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Originally Posted by MrSelfDestruct
4 - do you believe that part of the role of taxation is to redistribute resources more equally?
Taxation should fund services that are best provided by the government. The postal service, the military, police, fire, etc. Free education and providing basic needs to those who are unable to provide for themselves (but not those who are simply unwilling) is acceptable with strict oversight to ensure that money is not wasted; allowing people to become productive members of society will put money back into the system. Taxation should benefit society as a whole, not penalize anyone for being successful.
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Penalizing someone for being successful != hire tax brackets for people with higher incomes. The fact is that the majority of wage growth has been in the top 5-10% of jobs in this economy, with the most drastic increases coming from the top 1%, those people being amongst the top 10 executives at major corporations. I believe part of our government's responsibility is to provide education and healthcare to its citizens, and the only way this is going to happen is if they tax people with astronomical incomes--somewhere to the tune of 50% or so.
You might think that number is ludicrous, but back in the 1950s-1970s the highest bracket of income tax paid 80% of their income to the U.S. Govt. That's how we paid for things like the federal highway system, put a man on the moon, and got medicaid and social security off the ground.
It doesn't make much difference anyways--people who are that rich already have a million and one different accounting tricks they employ to shelter their money and beat the system, so it's doubtful anything much can be done about it at this point.