Tax The Rich
How the Rich Sidestep Taxes and Undermine Democracy
The billionaire class is choosing to dismantle the democratic ideals that made their wealth possible. By exploiting tax laws and underpaying what they owe the working class foots the bill. These oligarchs didn’t earn a gilded halo - they bought politicians and a private tax code that benefits only themselves. Then the wealthy add in armies of lawyers who surf the gray zone between avoidance and evasion, and the game is over before it starts. This is jeopardizing the very future of American democracy. The ProPublica Secret IRS Files showed that in some years the richest men in the country like Bezos, Musk, Bloomberg, Icahn all paid zero in federal income tax, or true tax rates near zero once you measure taxes against the surge in their wealth. That’s not entrepreneurial genius, it’s a system rigged to treat untaxed capital gains like a sacred cow while the working class deals with an overall tax burden around 30% of earnings.
The billionaire oligarchs now own most of Washington. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act slashed the corporate rate from 35% to 21% and layered on a passthrough giveaway that showered benefits on wealthy owners while encouraging accounting games. They have wealth parked in shell companies and trusts routed through friendly jurisdictions thereby making ownership opaque and taxes optional. Best estimates put around 8 to 10% of the world’s household financial wealth offshore with trillions from U.S. investors alone beyond the easy reach of the IRS. This is a hoarding of wealth against the common good of humanity in my personal opinion. Though I’m not religious - hopefully none of them are Christians as Jesus taught that while not inherently evil, wealth poses significant spiritual dangers saying, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God" Matthew 19:24 and Mark 10:25. He also warned against greed in Luke 12:15 stating, "Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."
Spare the fairy tale that financial hoarding is harmless. In a country with hungry kids and tents under overpasses, you don’t “accidentally” accumulate sums you can’t spend in ten lifetimes, you make a conscious choice to put yourself above everyone else. Trump and his Republican enablers have made a brand out of being big businesses bitch. To this day defending those 2017 cuts, blocking wealth-tax debates, and treating loopholes like national treasures. That’s plutocracy with a red hat. There are other consequences as well.
Budget Shortfalls and Shrinking Services. Billions in lost tax revenue starve vital public services like healthcare, education, infrastructure therefore forcing cuts or increased debt.
Erosion of Fairness. When billionaires pay lower rates than teachers or nurses, the principle of equal citizenship is hollowed out.
Political Corruption. Wealth funnels into political influence, defending loopholes, cutting IRS budgets, and weakening enforcement.
A Path Forward: Ways To Demand Accountability
Let’s put a stop to this together. The moral truth is that we must tax extreme wealth and shut the escape hatches. Stop preferential treatment of unrealized gains at the top and restore a robust corporate tax base reminiscent of 1950. Redirect that revenue to the public goods we keep pretending we can’t afford like universal health care, child poverty elimination, housing affordability, climate resilience, and scientific research that lifts everyone. What can we do?
Tax the Rich through reforms targeting capital gains, inheritance, and extreme wealth. Enacting a Wealth Tax like a 2% annual tax on fortunes over $50 million that could raise massive revenue.
Strengthen the IRS to audit and enforce.
Crack Down on Corporate Avoidance through tighter rules, global cooperation, and closing loopholes.
The United States has by far the most billionaires in the world at over 900 and counting despite being a quarter the size of China and India with a 1.4B in population each compared to America’s 350M. This means our policy architecture has become a billionaire factory, and the output is corporate capture and social decay. We should measure patriotism by whether the richest among us still pay into the nation that made their fortunes possible. Until we do, we’re subsidizing a class that treats America like an ATM and the rest of us like collateral.
