I was always of the belief if you put your mind to it and work real hard, you can get ahead in life and that rewards for doing so would follow.
For the most part, I found that to be true.
I also watched many people struggle though life. Whether given or earning opportunities for advancement things just did not move the needle much for them.
It isn’t always easy or even the same, as the road for everyone is different.
With everything there is a price to pay. Sometimes that means giving up valuable wealth or money in exchange for services provided by our government.
The discussion relative to how and how much has always been debatable. Should everyone AND everything be treated equally? Should the taxed proportion of income earned be based on a flat or progressive approach?
The US government decided that corporations (entities) are to be treated like people, when it comes to being able to give contributions to political campaigns.
Entities, such as Corporations, are allowed advantages in tax codes, tax deductions, and other tax breaks for a wide variety of reasons.
As the rich get richer, and the gap widens, and the idea related to paying your own fair share loses any meaning, especially when the numbers are so disproportionate that no one can possible relate to them anymore.
Income inequality has skyrocketed.From 1978 to 2023, top CEO compensation increased by 1,085%, while typical worker compensation grew by only 24%.
Income Inequality rose steadily starting around 1979.
From 1979 to 2015, the top 1% (household income) grew by 229%, while the bottom 90% grew by just 46%.Income is a big proponent of overall wealth, but that it is accumulated over a much shorter time than wealth is. Wealth can be transferred after death.
The disparity is even more pronounced in wealth; in 2022, the top 10% held 60% of all wealth, while the bottom 50% held just 6%.
How can we encourage dreamers and entrepreneurs, while also account for the less able, less lucky, less positioned in life?
This is mainly due to the enormous number of built in tax exemptions and accounting tricks used to avoid paying taxes, written specifically for and used by those in extremely higher income brackets.
And, circling back to paying your fair share, the percentages shown above do not match up the actual contributions in taxes collected.
Since the mid 60’s, the middle class has been in decline. The reasons are far too many, and the ability to go backwards is an impossibility.
Instead of wishing for the clock to somehow turn back to those times, we need to create a plan for changing the current direction with a new approach. The ways of the past will not work in today’s environment.
Change is needed. Changes in what is rewarded for investing in. Tax breaks for investing in people, not entities, or factories, or things.
We need to find a way to replenish and return to a more balanced distribution of wealth. One that encourages entrepreneurialism, innovation, competition, and investment domestically in people.
Imagine a time when, investing in ways that directly helps others in ways that improve their lives, provides you with incentives far greater than those currently seeking ways to avoid paying their fair share instead?
Can investing in people ever exceed the human desire for greed? That, my friends should be the ultimate goal.
Ruminati 