This is a byproduct of wild wealth disparity, not because the rich are so generous with paying the government.

WalterBright 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

And if you take away their money, then who is going to fund the government and all those wealth redistribution programs?

	▲	laughing_man 26 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		There are US state governments discovering this right now. I would have thought it was obvious.

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blanched 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Right - and iirc the bottom of the 1% is somewhere around 700k. Still a ton of money, but very very far off from a billion.

	▲	fsckboy 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		>700k. Still a ton of money, but very very far off from a billion that 700K is income, but the billion is assets. earning 700K is the income from $10 million in the stock market (although working to earn $700K is in exchange for you time while the income from $10 mil is passive. OTOH people with the work ethic to earn like that tend to like what they do. a billion in the stock market is $70 million a year, a large number but far from a billion. TLDR: 700K compares to a billion 1 in 1000, but the truth is closer to 1 in 100

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fsckboy 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>a byproduct of wild wealth disparity, not because the rich are so generous with paying the government

you're overcorrecting WAY too far. Tax rate percentages are much higher on high income people, and THAT is why they pay most of the federal budget, it's forced generosity paying the government.

and it's actually the top 20% who dominate income and taxes, but including that extra 19% is important because that is the class of people ("coastal elites") who have a (all too human) tendency to rig the system in favor of their children in terms of good schools, universities, learning high status pasttimes, "internships" at prestigious institutions, rent paid in high value/opportunity areas after university etc. These high income people basically earn their livings from the 1%.

(that should not be interpreted as a pure sign of oligopoly, capitalist markets measure productivity, and that's how it works out, production in these industries is highly valued by the populace, but turnover of these people is high, where the top of the list is almost invariably new people each generation.)