I've made millions via hard work and sacrifice. I worked 12-hour days while other people were drinking beer and having fun. I am still working 12-hour days while other people hang out a few blocks awa in Zuccotti par. Please don't tax me, I don't give a crap what some liberal arts major thinks is "fair".
Wealth redistribution isn't about voluntary sending in a check to the IRS if you feel too rich, but forcefully getting others in your position to do the same. The signs should read "tax me and others like me more". If the government had a better track record of spending public money I think these signs of the "1%" would be reasonable. Look at a country like France or Denmark, they get alot of public benefits for their tax dollars. In the US all the majority of the public money goes to guns and government contractors with nothing nil left over for butter.
Agree with the sentiment that these kids with their inheritances that are willing to give away their money is something of an absurd joke. To the last point about the tax money just going down a sinkhole of unaccountable pet projects, that really gets to the heart of the matter. Any time the buffoons in charge get their hands on the money, they spend all of it and then some. You give them an inch, they'll take a mile. Any realist would tell you that the second taxes are raised, the government will find another enormous hole to dig us all into. There is litereally no fixing this problem since there is almost no political will to tackle the myriad spending problems that confront us.
I was NOT born into the 1%. My mother escaped from a communist country and came to America at age 16 without speaking English or a penny to her name. My father is a first generation American and the first person in our family to attend college. I attended public school and a state university and worked several jobs in school and during the summer to help my parents pay for my education; I graduated with a BS in Finance. I have accumulated wealth because I have worked my ass off for 20+ years, saved my money, slowly built non-leveraged investments in real estate and a broad based equity & option portfolio, deferred compensation and reinvested in my company. If I make bad investment decisions I own the loss and have no pension; if I make good investment decisions the gov't gets to tax me another 15% on the ordinary income that has already been taxed. I love my kids and will provide them with a good education as long as they major in a marketable discipline. They will not inherit any money in their youth, and will not get anything if they prove themselves fiscally irresponsible. Frankly, they have no idea how much we are worth. Any tax policy or 'redistribution' of wealth will only drive my money to places that are legally untouchable. I join the fight to reward hard working savers, investors, and entrepreneurs. I stand with the 1%.
I doubt there are many people in the 1% wanting to tax themselves by giving money to the government. Power and money corrupts that's for sure. If all people who are with the 99% get taxed, it would only make around $1 million dollars. barely a pittance.
Even though you are not in the 1%, have worked hard, but you are willing to pay a higher 50% tax instead of lower 40% tax just because you admire the 1% who pay 15% tax you want people richer than you to pay less tax so you can pay more tax yourself. You are willing to give money away to richer people, so your family doesn't have to enjoy the burden of having more money. I salute you sir. You are being bitten by the hand that doesn't feed you and you are happy with it! That's true grit, nothing can bother you! I would also say you are a rebel, an anarchist (are you a liberal?). Normally people vote to give excess money to poorer people, but you vote to give it to richer people. It's so rebellious to societial norms!
What exactly are you trying to say? PS. 1% of the population by income is about 350 grand a year, not a super-stellar number all things considered.
Did you see that stat published somewhere? Seems high. 1 out of 100 Americans make that kind of money?? Or maybe it's the "top 1% AVERAGE $350K"? That would seem to account for those who make $Millions/$Billions spread over the "1%".