Should the richest 1% – who gained $42T/decade – be taxed more?

Sources of Extreme Wealth

• Several posts question how the top 1% amassed such gains: compounding returns on capital, especially once a net-worth threshold is crossed, make it much easier for the already-rich to get richer.
• Cited drivers: lower top tax rates over decades, property and asset price inflation, monopolies/oligopolies and regulatory “moats,” globalization, tech/oil fortunes, and historically slavery and land theft.
• Some note much of this “wealth” is unrealized asset appreciation and financialized gains rather than cash.

Arguments for Higher Taxes on the Rich

• Extreme wealth is framed as a threat to democracy, tilting societies toward oligarchy and giving unelected billionaires disproportionate political power.
• Advocates argue higher top rates worked historically and that billionaires should effectively be “taxed out of existence” or hard‑capped, while still living comfortably as millionaires.
• Many want the ultra‑rich to at least pay the same effective rates as professionals paying high marginal taxes, by closing loopholes and taxing income from capital more like labor.
• Some high earners in the thread explicitly say they would accept much higher taxes if they clearly funded universal healthcare, housing, food, and education.

Arguments Against or Concerns

• Opponents argue taxes are already too high, government is an inefficient or corrupt allocator (wars, megaproject overruns), and higher rates would discourage investment, entrepreneurship, and job creation.
• Capital flight and international tax competition are seen as major practical blockers; without global coordination, wealth may simply move.
• Some worry about “slippery slope” expansion of new taxes down to the middle class, citing the history of income tax.
• Others stress that poverty reduction and absolute living standards matter more than reducing inequality per se.

Mechanisms and Policy Ideas

• Proposals: wealth taxes (e.g., ~8% on ultra‑wealthy), higher top income brackets, taxing at the source of wealth so people can’t avoid taxes by moving, restricting benefits to tax‑avoiders, and breaking up monopolies instead of (or in addition to) taxing more.
• Debates over taxing unrealized gains:
  • Critics say it’s unfair/unpayable; point to huge paper gains vs limited cash.
  • Supporters note property taxes already hit unrealized gains; suggest instead taxing when people borrow against assets or limiting borrowing to cost basis.
• VAT is discussed as a tool that can be made somewhat progressive by rate‑differentiation, but also criticized as regressive and loophole‑prone.

Government vs Private Solutions

• One side emphasizes public goods and market failures (healthcare, transit, housing) and sees taxation as necessary to fund them.
• The other side prefers smaller government, private charity, and local initiatives, arguing individual action and limited state power better serve long‑term freedom and prosperity.