How many times has a famous billionaire, or politician, praised the virtues of raising taxes? Warren Buffet claims to have a lower tax rate than his secretary. CNN shares the anecdote dating back from 2013. In 2022, more ultra wealthy are asking governments of the world to unilaterally raise tax rates. Reuters broke news from the most recent Davos, Switzerland summit:
A group of more than 100 billionaires and millionaires has issued a plea to political and business leaders convening virtually for the World Economic Forum: make us pay more tax.
Seems strange. If 100 billionaires and millionaires actually believed that paying more taxes was a good idea, why don’t they lead by example and donate billions of dollars to their respective governments?
For an immediate impact, they could have written checks to their government’s treasury department to pay the debt directly. They call themselves the Patriotic Millionaires, and the sheer absurdity of their schemes should not be lost on anyone.
It seems the Patriots proved successful in some taxation areas, taking credit as they convinced:
…more than 130 countries to agree a deal to ensure big companies pay a global minimum tax rate of 15%...
More ideas out of Davos:
…a progressive wealth tax starting at 2% for those with more than $5 million and rising to 5% for billionaires could raise $2.52 trillion, enough globally to lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty and guarantee healthcare and social protection for individuals living in lower income countries.
It’s not the idea of lifting people out of poverty with which we take offence. Rather, their proposed poverty alleviation method is the problem. Specifically because it won’t work and will only lead to more poverty and capital destruction. The administrative tax, level of corruption, and dollars that will go missing are miniscule to the fact that we cannot shower dollars across the planet and expect poverty to disappear; there is a supply issue here that is completely overlooked.
Yet here we are, the ultra wealthy are asking for more involuntary intervention by way of public address, when they have the means to make their desired changes overnight.
Maybe they’re not aware but if they really cared they could make billionaire dollar contributions to pay down the nearly $30 trillion US debt. Courtesy the TreasuryDirect:
You can write a check payable to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, and, in the memo section, notate that it’s a gift to reduce the debt held by the public. Mail your check to:
Attn Dept G
Bureau of the Fiscal Service
P. O. Box 2188
Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188
Just think about how many people, whether rich or poor, talk about the need for taxes to somehow make society better. If tax is a public good that people value, then one would think writing checks to the treasury would be a popular task.
The data is available. Last year in 2021 a total of $1,268,950.35 was voluntarily sent to the U.S. Treasury. It could be that on the richest nation on Earth, home to countless billionaires, millionaires, and a large middle class compared to the rest of the world, not many people want to voluntarily pay taxes.
Or, like a mass vaccination program, it’s only a good idea if everyone is forced to comply?
