Focussing on the 1 per cent is an easy political win (everybody hates/envies the 1 per cent). But it’s not a realistic way to substantially raise more taxes. If we want to do that, we have to look to the models of countries that actually fund more robust public services. And this is the model: higher income taxes at all income levels, and 15-25 per cent sales tax.
The reason North Americans don’t have the public services of our counterparts in Europe is because voters at all income levels balk at paying those kinds of taxes. Instead, we point to the 1 per cent and say
make them pay.
We also conveniently ignore the other wide and growing inequality in our society between the 20 per cent - college-educated dual-income professionals - and everybody else. I imagine that includes a lot of people on this forum.
Are we the baddies?
https://ifstudies.org/blog/redefinin...dream-hoarders