Now that President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation has settled down from wild wish lists to a smaller set of matters that might actually pass a vote, we can consider what, exactly, has been going on here.
It’s all about taking on the rich.
We can argue about the percentages of all federal income tax revenue provided by “the rich.” But approximately 70% of all revenue is provided by the top 10% of earners. But if a fairer tax system is the objective, as Democrats claim, surely the next step would be to reduce taxes on poorer people. That would further change the proportions of taxes levied. But as the spending plans evince, the interest at play isn’t to spread the burden of paying for government onto broader shoulders, but rather to have more government. That’s a legitimate political desire, but it’s different than asking folks to “pay their fair share.”
This is about making the rich pay for more government. Think matters through. If it were or is about shares, then changing the shares would be the action taken. If it is about being able to spend more, then we’d see what is happening. The additional money that is to be shaken out of the rich would be spent on new things, instead of being used to alleviate the burden of current government spending on the poor.
All that talk of making the rich pay their “fair share” is just that, talk. It’s a cover for the imposition of more government. They’ve been using that rallying call of the “fair deal” to justify that most un-American expansion of the federal government’s reach.
