Progressive Taxation (Tax Brackets)

Post by **Martin Hash** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:19 am

I like to think I could run and make a business prosper (I have and will). The formula is great skill, lots of effort, and immense luck. I don’t get argument from Conservatives concerning these components but Conservatives have an additional implication that I find abhorrent… Conservatives think only a teeny, tiny portion of people can actually be successful in business – empirically, about 2% of the population. Conservatives treat the 2% like Rock Stars, defend their nouveau aristocracy, and claim that all other economies “trickle down” from these people. I’d like to go on the record shouting “bullshit!”

I think more like a quarter of the population would make great entrepreneurs, and perhaps 10-15% could be at the very top of success if they could get a little air. In my experience, the aspiring multi-millionaires are MUCH more committed and productive than those who have already pulled the gold ring. Just think what America’s economy would be like if 15% of the population were at the super-achiever level! Unfortunately, business is nearly a zero-sum game. The winners take it all while everyone else sucks wind. In America, Second Place is the first loser.

As an MBA, engineer, and accountant, it seems obvious we should maximize our resources. America’s resources are its entrepreneurs and go-getters. Progressive taxation puts some oxygen back into the room, at the expense of the folks who have already peaked, to those leading into the curve. How is this not obvious to everyone?

p.s. "Progressive" taxation is the redistribution of wealth, and "Regressive" taxation is the statification of wealth