11 Shocking Things The Richest Americans Could Do For The Country (But Never Would)

[Kelvin Mace]

5. Interesting, but the wrong way to go about it

It is not reasonable to expect rich people to give up ALL their money. The way I would phrase it as a talking point would be to look at the how much more money would be available if the 1% didn't have all these loopholes that allow them to pay less tax (percentage-wise) than the rest of us.

For example, a hedge fund manager whose $1 billion income is taxed (if taxed at all thanks to tax dodges) at around 15% (the capital gains rate) instead of being taxed as ordinary earnings. What could we do with the extra $150 million a year in tax revenue (leaving the poor dear to struggle by on a meager $650-$700 million a year)?

By my calculations, $150 million would pay for an additional 2,500 teachers. And this is just ONE billionaire, we have 425 by last count.

Also, removing the cap on income subject to social security currently around $100,000, would fully fund the the program until Captain Kirk was ready to retire.