There are aspects of the tax code that inadvertently punish people attempting to improve their lot - escalating your income just slightly can nudge you into a higher tax bracket and the tax increase is greater than the income increase. But on the large scale, the principle of 'punishing the wealthy' is only valid if the wealthy must suffer deprivations or cease to be wealthy because of taxation. While I could argue I'm being punished at my income level - I could buy a car with what I paid in income taxes in 2003, and I can really use a car right now, as a professional necessity, not a luxury - there are no equivalent deprivations for people in the top income brackets, and there have probably never been in this country.
I can't generate any sympathy for the problems of the wealthy. None whatsoever. Go ahead, make me wealthy, and I'll tell you how much I suffer. If it sucked so much, so many people wouldn't be aspiring to it.
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syntheid
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Date: 2004-01-07 01:54 pm (UTC)I can't generate any sympathy for the problems of the wealthy. None whatsoever. Go ahead, make me wealthy, and I'll tell you how much I suffer. If it sucked so much, so many people wouldn't be aspiring to it.